December 8, 2017

Sans Regulation, You Only Have to Be Rich to Fly in Space (Source: Business Standard)
The U.S. government is giving the nascent industry wide latitude, in part to encourage commercial enterprise and also because there’s little stomach for funding a national space program. Congress has allowed companies to devise their own medical screening and training protocols by imposing a moratorium on space passenger regulation until 2023. The Federal Aviation Administration currently requires a license for non-governmental space flights to ensure they don’t pose a hazard to public safety. But the FAA doesn’t have authority over vehicle design or training—or who springs for a seat on these new space ventures.

“It’s really up to the company for what kind of screening they want to have,” George Nield, the FAA’s associate administrator for commercial space transportation, said. If all goes as planned, the commercial space race will introduce scores of new “astronauts” each year: mostly middle-aged and older people with plenty of cash to burn—as well as run-of-the mill maladies that come with age. This situation, novel to space travel, has led researchers to probe the average person’s vulnerabilities in such an environment, contributing to a growing body of research about the stresses of rocket flight for those without a NASA-certified physique.

Does this mean space travelers with heart disease or diabetes, pacemakers or insulin pumps, or any chronic affliction that comes with old age could pass muster? Potentially, yes. The primary medical-screening issue, Vanderploeg said, is whether a flier’s condition is “well-understood and well-controlled” and the person is receiving the appropriate treatment. (12/6)

New UK Business Incubators Will Help Space Industry Grow (Source: Public)
The incubators, in Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Leicestershire and London, will provide world-class science innovation support for entrepreneurs and small businesses to help grow the UK space industry. The funding follows the launch of the government's Industrial Strategy, which includes a £50 million program to enable new satellite launch services and low gravity spaceflights from UK spaceports, to boost the economy and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. (12/7)

Port Canaveral Abandons Cargo Rail Proposal (Source: Florida Today)
A cargo rail line that would include a route through the Cape Canaveral Spaceport has lost the support of the Canaveral Port Authority. Commissioners voted 5-0 on Wednesday to withdraw the port's proposal from consideration by the federal Surface Transportation Board, which is the regulatory agency for new rail lines. Port commissioners were told the port's 30-year master plan — which has been under development for about two years and now is being finalized — "identifies no current or projected economic data that presents a compelling case for rail." (12/6)

First Black Astronaut a Forgotten Hero (Source: Florida Today)
This week marks the 50th anniversary of the loss of one of our most forgotten brothers: Maj. Robert H. Lawrence, Jr., America’s first black astronaut. This year, he is receiving the recognition he’s long deserved. In the late 1960s, development of manned space systems for military use by the U.S. and the Soviet Union was well underway. In June 1967, Lawrence — just 31 years old and already an accomplished Air Force officer — was selected to be an astronaut in a program created to explore the value in military space missions.

Just six months later, before he was ever launched into orbit, Lawrence perished on Dec. 8, 1967, in a jet crash while training for this program. He was the only astronaut from his team who died in service, and the first black astronaut at that, yet his remarkable achievements and sacrifice went unsung for decades. (12/5)

Budget Delays Impacting Critical Air Force Space Investments (Source: Space News)
The lack of a final budget deal is affecting military space modernization efforts. The Air Force sought a 20 percent increase in its space investment budget for 2018 to focus on several key priorities, but cannot start new programs while a CR is in place. If negotiations on a final 2018 spending bill drag into January, some analysts worry those new programs might not start at all in 2018, or that the Air Force will prioritize aircraft programs over space programs. (12/7)

Japan Moves Epsilon Launch to January (Source: JAXA)
Japan's space agency has rescheduled the launch of a small satellite for January. The Advanced Small-size Radar Satellite (ANSARO-2) was planned to launch in November on a Epsilon rocket but was delayed because of a problem with the electrical system on the rocket. That launch is now scheduled for Jan. 17. JAXA also announced that it has rescheduled the launch of a cubesat on an SS-520 vehicle, a converted sounding rocket, for Dec. 28, three days later than previously announced. (12/7)

Houston Preparing Utilities and Road Infrastructure for Spaceport (Source: Houston Chronicle)
Houston's spaceport effort at Ellington Field is making progress on building the roads and utilities needed to support future development. The design for such infrastructure was 60 percent complete in late September, and officials have since selected a firm to finish the design and then build the $18.5 million project. Officials plan to ask City Council for approval to award the contract to its selected company in the first quarter of 2018, and it hopes to break ground in the third quarter.

Arturo Machuca said this type of infrastructure is expected by potential tenants such as Blue Origin, which was considering the Houston Spaceport but ultimately chose Alabama for a rocket engine manufacturing facility. This week, Ellington Airport completed a $2 million rebuild of a non-airfield road that provides vehicle access to hangars. Construction on a new air traffic control tower is under way, and the tower should be complete and operational by September 2018. It will include space for mission control. (12/7)

NASA Picks Three for 3-D Printing Tech (Source: NASA)
NASA has selected three companies to develop prototypes of new 3-D space printers. Interlog Corporation, Techshot, Inc. and Tethers Unlimited, Inc. each won awards under part of NASA's Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships effort to develop a protype of a multi-material "FabLab." The combined value of the awards is $10.2 million, with prototypes due in 18 months. NASA will later select partners for future work on the FabLab concept. (12/7)

Space Coast Launch Services and Yang Settle on Underpayment Lawsuit (Source: Law360)
U.S. Air Force contractor Space Coast Launch Services LLC reached an undisclosed settlement in Florida federal court Thursday with space launch operations support subcontractor Yang Enterprises Inc. in the subcontractor's breach of contract suit accusing Space Coast of underpaying it $9 million, according to settlement conference documents. (12/7)

FTC Wants More Info From Northrop Over $9.2B Orbital Deal (Source: Law360)
Northrop Grumman Corp. on Wednesday said the Federal Trade Commission hit it with a second request for information related to its all-cash bid to buy defense technology services company Orbital ATK Inc. for $7.8 billion in cash and $1.4 billion in debt. (12/7)

Space Policy Experts Lay Out Their Concerns: Will the Trump Administration Listen? (Source: Space News)
Officials in the Trump administration have been known to ignore advice from experts. But this White House should listen to what a group of space analysts and scholars have to say, asserts a white paper released Tuesday. The United States needs a “national space policy” that looks broadly at issues like space traffic management, small satellites, proximity operations, orbital debris, counter-space threats and norms of behavior, says a report titled “Major Policy Issues in Evolving Global Space Operations,” by The Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy.

James Vedda, of The Aerospace Corporation, and Peter Hays, of the George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute, wrote the report based on a survey of 30 U.S. and international experts. There is a “proliferation of capabilities” in space coming from the private sector, the military and civilian agencies, Vedda said at a Capitol Hill event hosted by the Air Force Association. “We are in a great transition period for national security, civil and commercial space,” he said.

There is a need for the government to get more involved in policy-making and help sort things out. With this study, said Vedda, “We wanted not just to tee up the issues but say, ‘Here’s how key thinkers are feeling about these issues and please take this to heart.’” (12/5)

Tethers Unlimited Wins NASA Grant for Future FabLab for 3-D Printing in Space (Source: GeekWire)
Tethers Unlimited is getting a shot at helping to create an advanced fabrication facility that could manufacture and recycle 3-D printed items in space. Tethers Unlimited and two other companies will have 18 months to deliver a prototype for the multi-material fabrication lab, or FabLab. The other companies are Interlog Corp. of Anaheim, Calif.; and Techshot of Greenville, Ind.

About $10.2 million has been set aside for the prototyping phase of the project. After the prototype is delivered, NASA will select partners for further development of the technology. The FabLab initiative is part of a NASA program known as Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships, or NextSTEP. (12/7)

Independent Review to Examine JWST Launch Plans (Source: Space News)
NASA will provide an updated launch date for the James Webb Space Telescope early next year, even as some warn that the mission might face further delays. At a Dec. 6 hearing of the House Science Committee’s space subcommittee, Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for science, said the revised launch date would come after an independent review of the status of the spacecraft.

That review won’t start until January because of ongoing tests of unfolding the sunshade of the space telescope. Previous tests, he said, took much longer than anticipated, playing a key factor in the decision to delay the launch. An updated launch date, he said, would likely come in “January or February.” (12/7)

Government Outsourcing Disrupts Space as SatComm Services Commercialized (Source: Space Daily)
In the past couple of years, we have seen a steady reduction in the costs of manufacturing and launching communications satellites. Smaller satellites built for low-earth orbit, standard satellite designs, reusable rockets, and launch vehicles capable of delivering multiple satellites per mission have combined to make space more affordable for new users, allowing more and more governments to make space a vital part of the communications strategy.

The number of countries and commercial enterprises owning their own satellites is projected to increase dramatically in the next decade. However, being able to afford manufacturing and launching a satellite is quite a bit different than meeting the twin challenges of first, getting the satellite from the drawing board and into orbit, and second, operating the spacecraft throughout its useful life. (12/7)

US Firm Picks UK for Weather Satellites (Source: BBC)
A miniaturised instrument to monitor the weather will be the first payload to fly on one of the UK's new publicly funded demonstration satellites. US-based Orbital Micro Systems will launch their microwave radiometer aboard the 30cm-long spacecraft next year to retrieve temperature, humidity and precipitation measurements. If successful, OMS plans a 40-strong constellation of similar satellites. OMS is moving into Britain because of the support offered to new space firms. (12/7)

UF Scientists Discover Black Holes Have Wimpy Magnetism (Source: UF)
Black holes are famous for their muscle: an intense gravitational pull known to gobble up entire stars and launch streams of matter into space at almost the speed of light. It turns out the reality may not live up to the hype. In a new paper appearing in the journal Science, University of Florida scientists have discovered these tears in the fabric of the universe have significantly weaker magnetic fields than previously thought.

A 40-mile-wide black hole 8,000 light years from Earth named V404 Cygni yielded the first precise measurements of the magnetic field that surrounds the deepest wells of gravity in the universe. Study authors found the magnetic energy around the black hole is about 400 times lower than previous crude estimates.

The measurements bring scientists closer to understanding how black holes' magnetism works, deepening our knowledge of how matter behaves under the most extreme conditions — knowledge that could broaden the limits of nuclear fusion power and GPS systems. (12/8)