March 13, 2018

A New Focus on Exploration Worries Space Technology Advocates (Source: Space Review)
One element of NASA’s 2019 budget proposal seeks to combine the agency’s space technology program with its exploration program. Jeff Foust reports that proposal has sparked concern among supporters of the current space technology program that such a move could jeopardize NASA’s technology development expertise. Click here.

Editor's Note: Florida built the Space Life Sciences Lab at KSC just prior to NASA's Constellation Program. After the state spent millions for state-of-the-art labs in the facility to support ISS science and technology, NASA pulled funding for the science programs to pay for Constellation hardware that never flew. The building still hosts some science, but not nearly to the degree envisioned prior to Constellation. (3/12)
 
Our Fear of “Heritage” Imperils Our Future (Source: Space Review)
The concept of “common heritage of humankind” can get many people in the space community riled up. Michelle L.D. Hanlon says there’s another way of thinking about “heritage” that offers a more commonsense approach to protecting our history in space. Click here. (3/12) 
 
The Secretary of (Space) Commerce (Source: Space Review)
Efforts by the National Space Council have given new prominence to the Department of Commerce for the regulation and promotion of the commercial space industry in the United States. Jeff Foust interviews Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross on some of this issues coming out of the latest council meeting. Click here. (3/12)
 
Why the Outer Space Treaty Remains Valid and Relevant in the Modern World (Source: Space Review)
Some wonder if the fifty-year-old Outer Space Treaty is no longer relevant in an era where commercial activities are eclipsing government efforts in space. Cristin Finnigan argues that the treaty remains a good foundation for international space law to this day. Click here. (3/12)

Japan's JSAT to Launch on Blue Origin's New Glenn Rocket (Source: Space News)
Japanese satellite operator Sky Perfect JSAT is the newest customer for Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket. The contract, announced Monday, covers the launch of a future, unspecified satellite for Sky Perfect JSAT. That operator, the largest in Asia, is the fourth customer for New Glenn after Eutelsat, OneWeb, and mu Space, a Thai startup operator that has converted an agreement announced last year into a formal contract. (3/12)

Brexit Impacts UK Aerospace/Defense (Source: Aviation Week)
In June 2016, on the eve of the Brexit referendum, I wrote in this column that the British aerospace industry was at a crossroads, faced with the prospect of a political outcome that could seriously compromise its future. Almost two years later, one can now officially say that the British aerospace and defense sector altogether, including the British Armed Forces, is in shambles.

Not a week goes by without some senior industry executive, highly ranked military official or politician commenting on the dangers of a bad Brexit deal, the worrisome state of the defense forces or the frailty of the British industrial base. Of course not all of that is directly related to Brexit, but the process of exiting the European Union is destabilizing an industry that was already struggling, and exacerbating budgetary uncertainties that, coupled with weak political leadership, contribute to the general malaise. (3/12)

Arianespace CEO Talks GEO/LEO Markets and Rocket Reusability (Source: Aviation Week)
The geostationary orbit remains key for us, but priorities have shifted over the last few years, with the Soyuz and Vega. The constellation market calls for lower orbits, and our backlog is now much better balanced. With the Ariane 6 and Vega C, we will strengthen the rebalancing. The geostationary market has, for two years, sent indications it is slowing. We have to accept that, although we anticipate an uptick this year.

The relevance of reusability depends on the mission. As the orbit gets lower and the satellite lighter, the booster becomes easier to recover. And from 30 to 40 missions per year, you offset the slower production rate. We have to look at all the evolutions possible for the Ariane 6. Reusability is one. As early as 2014, we began working on reusable engines with the Prometheus [demonstrator], planned to be ground-tested in 2020. State agencies are working on other technology bricks. (3/12)

Effective Space Signs for Proton Launch in 2020 (Source: Space News)
Effective Space, a company developing a satellite life extension system, has signed a contract with International Launch Services for the launch of its first two spacecraft. Effective Space will fly its two Space Drone servicing spacecraft as secondary payloads on a Proton launch in 2020 under terms of the contract announced Monday. The spacecraft will be delivered directly to geostationary orbit, where they will extend the lives of existing satellites there. Effective Space plans to ultimately launch up to six Space Drones a year. (3/13)

DOD's PODSat Sneaks a Ride with Hispasat on Falcon 9 (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
A recent commercial satellite launch carried a secretive military secondary payload. PODSat was a secondary payload ejected from the Hispsat 30W-6 satellite after its launch last week on a SpaceX Falcon 9. The payload was built by NovaWurks for DARPA, but neither the company nor the agency would discuss the payload's mission. NovaWurks and Space Systems Loral, manufacturer of the Hispasat primary satellite, confirmed the existence of PODSat after it showed up in satellite catalogs after the launch. (3/13)

Ukraine Proposes Australian Spaceport (Source: The West Australian)
The government of Ukraine is in talks with the state of Western Australia about cooperative ventures that could include a spaceport. The discussions are focused on the possibility of building a launch site near an air base on the northern coast of Western Australia. The reports don't state what vehicles would use the launch site, although Ukrainian officials said they are very interested in using the spaceport if it was built. "Ukraine could launch tomorrow morning if we had a site. We offer our people and our expertise if Australia has land for use," said Ukraine's ambassador to Australia. (3/13)

NASA’s IRT Publishes Report on SpaceX’s CRS-7 Failure (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
NASA’s Independent Review Team (IRT) published the first public report on the SpaceX CRS-7 failure. The accident occurred on June 28, 2015 when a Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage experienced an over-pressurization event during first stage ascent. SpaceX blamed the accident on a manufacturing defect involving a steel strut. However, the IRT report blames a design error on SpaceX’s behalf. SpaceX published its initial findings on July 20, 2015, saying “a helium filled composite overwrapped pressure vessel (COPV) within the Stage 2 LOx tank had become liberated” due to a strut failing.

The IRT determined that it was “credible” that a COPV was “liberated” due to a strut failing and thus rupturing the Stage 2 LOx tank. Therefore, the IRT’s assessment of the “direct and immediate causes” of the anomaly aligned with SpaceX AIT’s assessment. However, the IRT did not agree with SpaceX on the “initiating cause.” SpaceX AIT blamed a manufacturing defect for the failure. The IRT agreed that a manufacturing defect could have been involved, but noted that there were other potential strut related failures that were “credible” including an installation failure.

Regardless, the IRT had a significant problem with the grade of strut that SpaceX chose. The report stated, “the key technical finding by the IRT with regard to this failure was that it was due to a design error: SpaceX chose to use an industrial grade (as opposed to aerospace grade) 17-4 PH SS (precipitation-hardening stainless steel) cast part in a critical load path under cryogenic conditions and strenuous flight environments.” (3/13)

NASA Supporting Air Traffic Control System for Drones (Source: Daily Mail)
Amazon and Google are pushing ahead with plans to develop their own air traffic control network for low-level altitudes so their drones can make deliveries. The plans were outlined at a conference earlier in the week and have the backing of major players including Amazon, General Electric, Boeing and Google. The system would use automated cellular and web applications to track and prevent collisions among swarms of small unmanned aircraft flying a few hundred feet above the ground.

The move would create a sort of 'drone superhighway' and would be the next step in Amazon's ambitious plans to deliver packages via drone within 30 minutes. The vision is in line with that of Google's which would see all tracked drones to communicate their positions to a centralized computer system available to all operators, similar to aviation airspace, to avoid any collisions. In conjunction with NASA, tests are already being planned over the next three months at a handful of sites.

The intent is to develop a 'totally different, new way of doing things,' Parimal Kopardekar, NASA's senior air-transport technologist who first suggested the idea of an industry-devised solution, told about 1,000 attendees at the conference. (3/10)

AST&Science Announces Majority Investment in NanoAvionics (Source: Via Satellite)
AST&Science has closed on the purchase of a controlling interest in the European satellite manufacturer and system integrator NanoAvionics. All the key executives and management team of NanoAvionics will remain unchanged under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Vytenis Buzas and Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Linas Sargautis, both founders of the company.

Abel Avellan of AST&Science will chair the NanoAvionics board. The investment into NanoAvionics will be used to expand its manufacturing capabilities both in Europe and the U.S. "The capital infusion...will be a significant contributing factor in entering the U.S. market and successful further commercialization of our products. Our combined venture will be focused on a goal to become a go-to company for manufacturing and launching small satellite constellations for businesses worldwide,” said Buzas.

In June 2017, NanoAvionics launched its second satellite under the European Commission’s QB50 project dedicated to atmospheric research. In addition to the scientific study, the satellite performed an important validation of a green chemical propulsion system for smallsats developed by NanoAvionics. (3/9)

Research Beyond the Wild Blue Yonder (Source: ERAU)
In the near future, when suborbital spacecraft begin traveling to low-Earth orbit, a group of citizen-scientist astronaut candidates who have trained at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – regular people from around the world who have dreamed of going into space – will be on board for some of the first flights.

The nascent space travelers will journey up to and through a layer of clouds 50 miles high, formed of ice crystals seeded by fine debris from disintegrating meteors, on a mission to gather high-resolution three-dimensional imagery of noctilucent clouds in the mesosphere.

This hard-to-study cloud layer, seen seasonally over both poles, is so high it glows at night from sunlight on the opposite side of Earth. Imagery gathered of these elusive ‘night-shining’ atmospheric phenomena will be used to develop high-fidelity dynamical models that will help scientists better understand our changing global climate. (3/9)

Who Needs $20 Million? Moon Race Still on Without Google's Prize (Source: Bloomberg)
Google called off its race to the moon weeks ago, when it became clear no private explorer would complete the trip by the March 31 deadline. That won’t stop at least three teams from Israel, Japan and the U.S., who say their missions are still a go, with or without the contest's $20 million prize. “We are full steam ahead,” said Yigal Harel, program director at SpaceIL, the Israeli team that plans a soft-landing on the moon later this year.

When the Lunar XPrize was introduced in 2007, interest in moon exploration was at a low. No government had landed there since the 1970s and no businesses had seriously contemplated it. But the contest has had its intended effect, jump-starting a cottage industry of would-be space explorers, even if no one emerged to take Google’s money.

One reason the moon is within easier reach is that escaping Earth’s gravity is now so much cheaper. Private launch services like Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. can put a satellite into orbit for about one-tenth what it would have cost a decade ago. (3/11)

Mysteries Surrounding July 14 Soyuz Flight Solved? Not Quite. (Source: Space News)
For the first time since a Russian Soyuz rocket launched 73 satellites in July 2017, Glavkosmos, a subsidiary of Roscosmos, is confirming a problem with the Fregat upper stage. “According to the telemetry, an anomaly was detected in one of the Fregat’s low-thrust engines,” Glavkosmos said.

For months, satellite and insurance executives have tried to determine why a group of cubesats launched into the same orbit failed, while other spacecraft on the Soyuz flight worked. Roscosmos claimed consistently that none of the cubesat failures were caused by rocket problems. The new Glavkosmos statement solves the mystery surrounding the loss of cubesats sent into 601-kilometer orbit but leads to other questions.

After the July 14 launch, Roscosmos directed the Russian startup Dauria Aerospace to return the 290 million rubles or approximately $5 million Roscosmos paid it to build two remote sensing nanosatellites that failed to respond to commands after the July 14 launch. When Dauria said it could not pay because it spent the money building the MKA-N satellites, Roscosmos threatened to sue. Click here. (3/12) http://spacenews.com/mysteries-surrounding-july-14-soyuz-flight-solved-not-quite/

Bezos and Musk are Ramping Up Their Space Race (Source: Vanity Fair)
While Musk has the functioning infrastructure in place and is working to create a viable business with SpaceX, which he said on Sunday is “alive by the skin of its teeth,” Bezos has nearly unlimited assets to devote to his aerospace company, Blue Origin. Click here. (3/12)

Elon Musk Wants to Preserve Humanity in Space (Source: C/Net)
Elon Musk wants to save humanity. That is, in part, what his quest to establish bases on the moon and Mars is all about. "There's likely to be another dark age," he told the crowd Sunday at the South By Southwest festival. Particularly if there's another world war in Earth's future, he said, we need to make sure "there's enough of a seed of human civilization to bring human civilization back." Click here. (3/11)

China’s Rapid-Response Rocket Prominent In 2018 Program (Source: Aviation Week)
China will conduct five missions with Long March 11 solid-propellant launchers this year, confirming that the fast-response rocket is finally regarded as mature. One of the launches will be from a ship, says Li Hong, the head of China’s main space-launcher builder, Calt, confirming a previously disclosed plan. (3/12)

Chinese Working On Giant Engine For Long March 9 (Source: Aviation Week)
Completing a demonstrator for a huge first-stage rocket engine, possibly this year, is among the technology acquisition projects being undertaken by China’s main space industry group in preparation for a go-ahead for manned Moon missions. Work on engines for second and third stages and on the structure for the giant launcher, informally called Long March 9 and due to go to the Moon around 2030, is also underway. Long March 9’s targeted payload to low Earth orbit is 140 metric tonnes. (3/12)

Rocket Lab Says Launch Preparations Not Affected by 'Rogue Satellite' Concern (Source: Stuff)
Rocket Lab says preparations for its next launch are not being impacted by a controversy involving one of its customers. Californian "internet of things" company Swarm Technologies has booked launch space with Rocket Lab. But it is in the doghouse with the US Federal Communications Commission after launching four satellites into space from India despite concerns they might be too small to easily and safely track.

Rocket Lab spokeswoman Morgan Bailey said the matter was between Swarm and the FCC, and had not caused any delay to preparations for Rocket Lab's next launch, which is tipped to take place in April. "For us, it doesn't really create any issues." Its Electron rockets are designed to carry a payload of up to 150 kilograms, meaning the tiny Swarm satellites would only be a small part of any cargo.

Rocket Lab, founded by Kiwi Peter Beck, was still finalising the payload for what will be its first commercial launch but would not include any satellites on it that did not have the right regulatory approvals, Bailey said. Rocket Lab had yet to confirm the launch window for its next flight, but the Electron would be transported to its launch site on the Māhia Peninsula in the next few weeks, she said. Electron's "plug and play" design meant satellites could be swapped out easily and at short notice, she said. "It is business as usual for us." (3/12)