November 30, 2017

Earthworms Reproduce in Simulated Mars Soil — A First (Source: National Geographic)
A number of conditions make Earth hospitable for life as we know it, and one of them is the soil in which we grow our food. It's full of a complicated mix of nutrients, bacteria, and fungi that allow plants to grow. By contrast, soil on Mars has been found to be sterile and full of potentially toxic compounds.

As humans race toward the red planet, how to live and eat once there will be a major hurdle. Scientists think it's possible to sustainably grow crops on Mars, but to do this, they'll need to modify the planet's dirt. Biologist Wieger Wamelink thinks earthworms may help. At his Dutch research lab at Wageningen University, two small worms were recently born from a colony living in soil created by NASA to simulate the dirt found on Mars.

For Wamelink, who's been working in the research lab since 2013, the successful births indicate that worms digging through the simulated soil can not only live—they might just thrive. On Earth, worms play a crucial role in the agricultural cycle, and this gives researchers hope they might one day do the same thing on another world. (11/28)

SpaceX, Virgin Orbit Execs Share Their Secrets of Success with Tech Students (Source: Daily Breeze)
Seeking lessons on how to thrive in technology-driven careers amid fast-changing advances, Orange County educators and students turned Wednesday to local commercial-space pioneers SpaceX and Virgin Orbit. Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX in Hawthorne, and Virgin Orbit Vice President Tim Buzza answered questions from students about how to bounce back from failures and succeed despite daunting odds at the morning showcase of science and technology career-prep programs. (11/29)

Can You Brew Beer in Space? (Source: Slate)
Last spring, Budweiser declared its intention to be the beer of choice for future Martian colonists seeking a cold one in space. The company will take one giant step for beerkind on Dec. 4, when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will take Budweiser’s barley seeds from Cape Canaveral in Florida up to the International Space Station.

The seeds, a small part of a big cargo resupply mission to the ISS, are part of Anheuser-Busch’s (Budweiser’s parent company) plans to conduct two new experiments aboard the space station in order to examine how its barley seeds will behave in a microgravity environment as well as whether those seeds could actually germinate in space. (11/29)

SpaceX Sending People to Space Next Year with an Engine That Just Exploded? (Source: American Spectator)
Aeronautical technology is in the midst of rapidly taking off with enormous potential economic and societal benefits. Thanks to significant advancements in the technology in recent years as well as a renewed interest across the nation and world in pushing space exploration, such as the Trump Administration announcing in late September that it was bringing back together the National Space Council to develop coherent space technology development public policy plans.

Perhaps the most noted private sector company in making progress for space development in recent years is SpaceX. While SpaceX has been a big innovator in recent years for aeronautical technology, their recent rocket launch mishaps combined with increasing upcoming responsibilities raises serious accountability and transparency questions about how the industry can be supported and protected as it matures. The Zuma rocket delay is representative of some of the questions facing the aeronautical industry at the moment. All SpaceX said publicly was that the delay was linked to a problem with the Falcon 9 rocket’s cones.

However that short statement belies the fact that just a few days prior, on November 4, a SpaceX engine exploded during testing. The engine that exploded, a “block five Merlin”, is meant to replace current “block four Merlin” engines and will be used to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station in 2018. Editor's Note: The two issues have nothing to do with each other. (11/29)

Swamp Watch: Arizona Treasurer Jeff DeWit Nominated by Trump for NASA Finance Post (Source: AZ Central)
Arizona Treasurer Jeff DeWit has been nominated to oversee the finances at NASA, the White House announced Wednesday. The NASA job, which is based in Washington, D.C., requires Senate confirmation and involves overseeing an estimated $20 billion budget as well as the agency's financial operations. By joining President Donald Trump's administration, DeWit, who was chief operating officer of Trump's presidential campaign, ends speculation about his political future, including a potential run for Arizona's open Senate seat. (11/29)

Russia Seeks to Sign Up UAE for GLONASS Services (Source: SpaceWatch Middle East)
Russia is seeking to sign up the United Arab Emirates as a customer for its Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) satellite navigation constellation. The proposal was apparently made to H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Vice President of the UAE, by Russia’s Minister of Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov, during a visit to Abu Dhabi on November 26, 2017. (11/30)

Luxembourg and Japan Agree on Exploration and Space Resource Cooperation (Source: SpaceResources)
The Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, represented by the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Economy, Étienne Schneider, and the Cabinet Office of Japan, represented by Masaji Matsuyama, Minister of State for Space Policy, signed today in Tokyo a memorandum of cooperation on exploration and commercial utilization of space resources. Within its SpaceResources.lu initiative, Luxembourg offers commercial companies an attractive overall environment for space resource exploration and utilization related activities, including but not limited to a legal regime. (11/29)

Japan Looking to Join Multilateral Space War Games in 2018 (Source: Kyodo News)
Japan is proposing to take part for the first time in multilateral tabletop space war games led by the U.S. military, an outline of a revised road map of Tokyo's basic space policy showed Tuesday. Japan also wants to send astronauts to the lunar surface in cooperation with Washington, according to the draft revision of the road map. The Japanese government plans to present the draft on Friday to a meeting of space policy experts and approve it within the year, a government source said.

Japan's Self-Defense Forces aim to join the Schriever Wargame to be conducted by U.S. Air Force Space Command in the autumn of next year, according to the draft. The multilateral project, which has been running since 2001, will involve tabletop exercises to simulate responses to electronic jamming and attacks on participating countries' satellites that those involved believe could be realistic threats in around 10 years' time. In 2016, Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, France and Germany joined the Schriever Wargame, according to Japan's Defense Ministry. (11/29)

SpaceX Shifts Launch Schedule (Sources: Space News, SpaceFlight Now)
One upcoming SpaceX launch is sticking to its schedule as other launches slip. The launch of 10 Iridium satellites on a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Air Force Base remains on schedule for Dec. 22. The launch will use a previously flown first stage that first launched in June, also carrying 10 Iridium satellites. That news comes as NASA announced Tuesday the launch of a Dragon cargo spacecraft on another Falcon 9 had been delayed from Dec. 4 to Dec. 8 to provide more time to prepare Space Launch Complex 40 for that mission. SpaceX also now expects the first flight of the Falcon Heavy to slip to early January, following a static fire test still expected for December. (11/28)

India's PSLV Return-To-Flight Could Slip to January (Source: PTI)
The return to flight of India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle could be delayed to January. That launch, previously scheduled for the second half of December, is now planned for the end of December or the first week of January, the head of the Indian space agency said. A separate report, about the inclusion of four cubesats from Planet on that mission, gave a January date for that launch. The launch will be the first for the PSLV since an August mission that failed when the rocket's payload fairing failed to separate. (11/28)

UK Offers Millions for Launch Vehicles and Spaceports (Source: Space News)
The British government is offering 50 million pounds ($67 million) to support development of launch vehicles and spaceports in the country. The funding was announced this week as part of a broader industrial strategy for the country. The funding is one element of an effort, including the creation of a regulatory regime, to support development of smallsat launch capabilities from the country by 2020. (11/28)

Airbus Investigated for Kazakhstan Satellite Sale (Source: Reuters)
Airbus offices were raided by French authorities last week as part of an investigation into the sale of satellites to Kazakhstan. The company confirmed Tuesday that authorities visited the offices "in the context of the French judicial investigation relating to Kazakhstan," but did not offer additional details. Kazakhstan ordered two Earth-observation satellites from Airbus Defence and Space in 2009, which launched in 2014. (11/28)

Big SpaceX Rocket Could Launch Asteroid Chaser (Source: Space.com)
Scientists have proposed another application of SpaceX's planned "BFR" rocket: chasing down an interstellar asteroid. A study carried out by the Keck Institute for Space Studies at Caltech found that a BFR rocket, launched in 2025, could reach the asteroid 'Oumuamua in 2039 when the object is at a distance of 85 astronomical units. The asteroid, discovered last month, is on a hyperbolic trajectory that originated from outside the solar system and will exit the solar system, making it the first asteroid known to have come from another solar system. The same study found that laser-propelled "lightsails," like those being studied by the Breakthrough Starshot project, could have allowed probes to reach the asteroid within a year of its discovery. (11/28)

Orbital ATK Stockholders Approve Acquisition By Northrop Grumman (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Orbital ATK stockholders overwhelmingly approved the merger agreement providing for the proposed acquisition of Orbital ATK by Northrop Grumman at a special meeting of stockholders held on November 29. The company expects the transaction to close in the first half of 2018, pending receipt of regulatory approvals. (11/29)

North Korea Raises Possibility of War with Longest-Range ICBM Launch (Source: Newsweek)
North Korea's ICBM missile test on Tuesday will lead to armed conflict — and it will be Kim Jong Un's fault for pushing America to the breaking point, Senator Lindsey Graham said hours after the test. It was reportedly the most powerful ICBM North Korea has ever launched. It reached a height of roughly 2,800 miles above the Earth (over 10 times higher than the International Space Station). If it's suborbital path was straightened out, the missile could reach Washington, D.C., analysts said. President Donald Trump also reacted to the launch, telling reporters in Washington, “we will take care of it. It is a situation that we will handle.” (11/29)

Thawing Actic Threatens Global Environmental Catastrophe (Source: The Economist)
“The Paris agreement will not save the Arctic as it is today,” says Lars-Otto Reiersen, executive secretary of the group behind the latest edition of “Snow, Water, Ice, Permafrost in the Arctic” (SWIPA), a report produced under the auspices of the Arctic Council, a scientific-policy club for the eight countries with territory in the Arctic Circle), as well as observers including China and India.

Atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has now reached 400 parts per million (ppm), up from 280ppm three centuries ago; the Earth is on average 1ºC hotter than in pre-industrial times. Although 190-odd countries signed up to limit warming to “well below” 2ºC above pre-industrial temperatures in Paris in 2015, pledges for mitigating action are likely to see temperatures increase by around 3ºC—assuming countries stick to their promises. But different parts of the world warm at different rates. Even if the Paris agreement is implemented in full, the Arctic will warm by between 5ºC and 9ºC above the 1986-2005 average over the Arctic ocean in winter.

The thaw is happening far faster than once expected. Over the past three decades the area of sea ice in the Arctic has fallen by more than half and its volume has plummeted by three-quarters (see map). SWIPA estimates that the Arctic will be free of sea ice in the summer by 2040. Scientists previously suggested this would not occur until 2070. The thickness of ice in the central Arctic ocean declined by 65% between 1975 and 2012; record lows in the maximum extent of Arctic sea ice occurred in March. (11/29)

The Biggest Satellite Constellation in the World Just Got Bigger (Source: Motley Fool)
On Oct. 31, an Orbital ATK Minotaur-C rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Its cargo: a payload of 10 imaging satellites going into orbit for one of the biggest satellite companies you've probably never heard of: Planet Labs. Planet isn't a household name just yet, but it's a name you'll want to get familiar with. Believe it or not, Planet operates the biggest commercial satellite constellation in space today.

Of the constellations up there right now, Iridium's is probably the best known. Its 66 existing satellites (scheduled to be de-orbited) and 30 new "NEXT" generation satellites provide customers around the world with communications services in the air, on land, and at sea -- and Iridium has 45 more NEXT satellites on the way.

Other companies have proposed building bigger constellations of satellites. OneWeb hopes to put 720 satellites in orbit. Boeing plans to orbit more than a thousand, while Elon Musk's SpaceX has proposed -- get this -- a constellation numbering in excess of 4,400 satellites, all delivering Internet to the masses. For the time being, though, those are just plans. Right now, Planet Labs has the largest satellite constellation in orbit. (11/22)

Ukraine, China Approve Updated Bilateral Space Cooparation Through 2020 (Source: Open4Business)
Ukraine and China are preparing to expand cooperation in the space sector, updated cooperation plans were outlined in a new version of the program of bilateral cooperation in the space sector until 2020, which has been recently adopted in Beijing. The updated version of the program of bilateral cooperation in the space sector for 2016-2020 was approved during a session of the working group and the 4th meeting of the Sub-Commission on Cooperation in Space Sector of the Ukrainian-Chinese Intergovernmental Commission, the Ukrainian State Space Agency’s press service reported. (11/28)

Russia and China Ratify Agreement on Protecting Space Exploration Technologies (Source: Tass)
Russia’s Federation Council (upper house of parliament) ratified an intergovernmental agreement with China on measures to protect technologies related to cooperation in the exploration and peaceful use of outer space at its meeting on Wednesday. The agreement was signed in Beijing on June 25, 2016. Its purposes is "to create an organizational and legal basis for preventing unauthorized access to and transfer of protected technologies, in particular with regard to cooperation in rocket and space activities, including the creation and operation of launch vehicles and ground-based space infrastructure." (11/29)

Avio Designing Larger And Smaller Vega Launchers (Source: Aviation Week)
Boosted by a series of successful Vega launches and buoyed by gradual funding from the European Space Agency (ESA), Avio is confidently studying no less than four upgraded versions and derivatives of its light launcher. The Colleferro, Italy-based company is simultaneously moving to full Europeanization of components, as required by ESA. Over the last few years, the good news has continued for Avio. Vega, designed to send small satellites (up to 1,500 kg/3,300 lb.) into low Earth orbit. (11/29)

NASA Rolls Out Back-to-the-Moon Strategies (Source: Inside Outer Space)
NASA has begun to roll out a return to the Moon strategy. Taking part in a Global Exploration Roadmap (GER) workshop, NASA officials have started to outline potential back to the Moon strategies. The GER is a publication authored by NASA and the other 14 space agencies that comprise the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG). The roadmap outlines a phased approach to achieving the common goal of sending humans to the surface of Mars. Click here. (11/29) http://www.leonarddavid.com/nasa-rolls-out-back-to-the-moon-strategies/

Landing on the Moon Won’t Be Easy for Unicorns (Source: Bloomberg)
There is something satisfying about the fact that the path to conquering the moon runs through Luxembourg. Sure there are lots of real physical engineering problems to be solved, in putting your startup on the moon. You have to build a rocket and fly it to the moon. But there are problems of financial engineering, regulatory engineering, tax engineering to be solved as well. You have to build a legal entity and put it in a friendly regulatory jurisdiction. Click here. (11/29)