March 22, 2018

U.S. National Laboratory Research Geared for SpaceX Flight to Space Station (Source: CASIS)
The 14th Commercial Resupply Services (awarded by NASA) mission to the International Space Station (ISS) by SpaceX is targeted for launch no earlier than 4:30 p.m. EDT on April 2. A Dragon cargo spacecraft previously flown on SpaceX’s 8th commercial resupply mission to the station for NASA will now include 20 separate payloads sponsored by the ISS National Laboratory (managed by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space).

These payloads represent a diverse combination of science, technology, and the validation of new facilities that will contribute to greater research capacity in the future. Additionally, multiple investigations will launch to station focused on inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers. Click here. (3/21)

What NASA Loses Without a Permanent Leader (Source: The Verge)
It’s an unusual situation that NASA has never quite faced before. The longest gaps in permanent leadership hovered around five and a half months. Without the position truly filled, NASA lacks an effective political liaison, someone who both understands the White House’s visions and the realities of what NASA can do. “No one else can really be inside the agency helping to have NASA understand where the president wants to take the organization and then go to the White House to say, ‘These are NASA’s capabilities,’” Lori Garver, the former deputy administrator of NASA under President Obama, tells The Verge.

Plus, uncertain leadership makes it hard for NASA to execute bold new changes, and that’s exactly what the administration wants for NASA right now: to do big, new things. Trump directed the agency to send humans back to the Moon, and his administration recently proposed ending direct federal funding for the International Space Station in order to transition the domain of lower Earth orbit to the private sector. “Now is not the time to leave NASA rudderless,” the representatives write in their letter. “We urge the Senate to confirm Jim Bridenstine swiftly and allow him to lead the world’s premier space agency into the next age of space exploration.” (3/21)

Omnibus Spending Bill Funds Big-Ticket Military Satellites DoD Did Not Request (Source: Space News)
In a surprise last-minute add-on, House appropriators included $600 million in the Air Force budget for two high-capacity communications satellites made by Boeing that the Pentagon did not request. The omnibus appropriations bill for fiscal year 2018 funds two Wideband Global SATCOM satellites, WGS-11 and WGS-12. The Air Force did not request funding for these spacecraft nor were these satellites included in any previous marks of the congressional defense committees, or in the fiscal year 2019 budget request.

This action caught the satellite communications industry completely off guard. Commercial satellite services providers, particularly, had been told that the Pentagon would not buy any more WGS satellites beyond number 10. WGS-9 was deployed last year, and WGS-10 is scheduled for launch in 2019. Air Force and DoD officials had been talking for months about a plan to move forward with a “hybrid” architecture for future military communications that would include a mix of government-owned satellites and commercial services. (3/22)

Spending Bill Includes $20.7 Billion for NASA, Including Second Mobile Platform for SLS at KSC (Source: Space News)
An omnibus spending bill provides NASA with more than $20.7 billion for fiscal year 2018. The bill, released Wednesday evening after intense negotiations, offers NASA more than $1.6 billion above the administration's original request, and is also above House and Senate versions of spending bills developed last year. The bill funds four Earth science missions slated for cancelation in the 2018 request as well as NASA's education office, slated for closure in the proposal.

It also fully funds the Restore-L satellite servicing mission and includes $350 million to build a second mobile launch platform for the SLS. The House is scheduled to vote on the bill today, followed by the Senate. The current continuing resolution funding the government expires Friday night. (3/22)

Russian Soyuz Launches Three to Space Station (Source: Space.com)
Two NASA astronauts and one Roscosmos cosmonaut are on their way to the International Space Station after a launch Wednesday.  A Soyuz rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1:44 p.m. Eastern Wednesday and placed the Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft into orbit. The spacecraft is carrying Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev and American astronauts Richard Arnold and Andrew Feustel. The spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the ISS Friday afternoon. (3/21)

DOD Seeks $12.5 Billion for Non-Classified Space Systems (Source Space News)
The Defense Department is seeking a total of $12.5 billion for unclassified national security space systems in its 2019 budget request. That figure comes from a detailed analysis of an aggregated account known as MFP-12 in the budget proposal. That amount is $1.1 billion above the 2018 request, with most of the money going to U.S. Air Force programs. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said at a hearing this week that the service considered the budget request a "bold move" to address threats to the ability of the U.S. to freely operate in space. (3/22)

Russia, Kazakhstan and UAE Step Up Space Cooperation (Source: Tass)
The heads of three space agencies have agreed to expand their cooperation. The leaders of the space agencies of Kazakhstan, Russia and the United Arab Emirates signed the agreement Wednesday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome ahead of the Soyuz launch to the ISS. The agreement includes plans to establish a  working group next month to consider potential joint projects at Baikonur. (3/22)

Looking for Planet Nine, Astronomers Gaze Into the Abyss (Source: Scientific American)
It’s been just over two years since Caltech astronomers Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin made an explosive claim: Based on the orbital motion of objects in the Kuiper Belt—a region beyond Neptune that is home to Pluto and other icy bodies—there must be a very big something much farther out, hidden save for its subtle gravitational tugs on the rest of the solar system.

Brown and Batygin’s best models put this mysterious object at about 10 times Earth’s mass, perhaps 20 times more distant from the sun than Neptune and currently drifting through what might be a 20,000-year orbit in a patch of sky near the constellation Orion. Brown and Batygin called it “Planet Nine,” elevating it to the position once held by Pluto (which was demoted to “dwarf planet” status in 2006, when Brown discovered multiple Pluto-like worlds out past Neptune).

Within months a small army of theorists and observers had thrown themselves into the search—which, so far, has come up empty. Planet Nine remains stubbornly in absentia. Planet Nine also aligns with an emerging awareness that the solar system’s early days were a chaotic mess, in which the early formation of Jupiter and Saturn scattered smaller and more embryonic worlds into the sun or the interstellar void. Planet Nine might have been an outbound world that plowed through enough debris to slow down and get trapped in the solar hinterlands. Or it could have been an alien outcast from another star, gravitationally captured when it wandered too close to our own. (3/22)

Studies Show Potential for Spaceport Camden (Source: Brunswick News)
Analysis of a proposed spaceport in Camden County shows the project has potential to create new jobs, increase tourism, boost the local economy and position the region to take advantage of a growing commercial space industry. That was the message given Tuesday by industry experts who spoke about the project during a Camden Roundtable meeting.

Ben McKay, assistant research director for Georgia Southern University’s Center for Business Analysis and Economic Research, was among those who discussed potential impacts of the project. McKay said the university study looked at the impacts of both construction of a spaceport and operations once launches are conducted at the site.

The 15-month construction project would create 70 jobs to build the $9.2 million facility and it would generate $22.5 million to the local economy each year after it was built, the study suggested. That doesn’t include the 10,000 to 15,000 visitors who would come to the region to see a launch, he said. (3/21)

Avoiding Collisions in Outer Space (Source: New York Times)
A revolution is afoot in space. As the use of satellites transforms from a national and military-led enterprise to one dominated by businesses, governments worldwide are playing catch-up with the rules and regulations that apply. It’s now possible for a private enterprise with headquarters in the United States to launch Argentine satellites from New Zealand’s soil.

Several new space start-ups are planning enormous “mega-constellations” of hundreds or even thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit. How much distance should separate these various constellations so that any collision in one doesn’t create havoc for those in higher or lower orbits? Currently, orbital slots in low Earth orbit are not assigned — you launch to wherever you like — but this laissez-faire attitude may soon need revisiting.

The sustainable use of space hinges on how new space laws are enforced and coordinated across nations. With too little regulation, certain orbital altitudes could become unusable. Too much regulation, on the other hand, could choke off the commercial space revolution. Encouraging and enforcing good practices and the sustainable use of space should not come at the cost of drowning the private sector in more time-consuming paperwork. Many small start-ups don’t have the resources or the long time horizons to deal with a Balkanized, understaffed and glacial space licensing bureaucracy. (3/19)

Relativity Strikes Deal with NASA to Use Rocket Engine Test Complex in Mississippi (Source: Space News)
Relativity, a rocket startup with roots at Blue Origin and SpaceX, says it has been awarded an exclusive 20-year lease to use a 25-acre engine test complex at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The arrangement furthers Relativity’s plans to develop its 3-D-printed Aeon 1 rocket engine as the heart of its low-cost Terran rocket, with an eye toward starting commercial launches in 2021.

Relativity got its organizational start in Seattle two years ago, thanks in part to CEO Tim Ellis’ background as a propulsion engineer for billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture in Kent, Washington. Relativity’s chief technology officer, Jordan Noone, interned at Blue Origin and worked at SpaceX. (3/21)

Kratos Targeted by Short Seller (Source: Motley Fool)
Kratos Defense & Security defended itself against a short seller that drove its stock down 11 percent on Friday, but didn't address all of the points highlighted by the short seller. Kratos on Monday issued a statement saying short seller Spruce Point Capital's report of the company included "statements that are factually incorrect and makes misleading assertions." Kratos did not, however, address all of Spruce Point Capital's criticisms.

Among the most poignant, Kratos projected being cash-flow positive a year ago. That hasn't happened. Kratos' management has "promised for years that they're going to turn a profit," said Spruce Point founder Ben Axler. But "they're still burning cash flow." (3/21)