May 19, 2018

Space Tourism for the People: Become a Virtual Reality Astronaut (Source: The Guardian)
It’s the dream of any would-be space tourist: seeing our home planet from above. First you see the Earth’s horizon curve away, and then the luminous thin envelope of atmosphere that keeps us all alive comes into focus. As you cross the daylight side of Earth, you look down to see gigantic landscapes – mountains and valleys – beneath you. As your orbit continues, so night falls and the city lights turn on. Now you can see the human landscape of the planet.

It is an experience said to be so profound that many astronauts say it permanently alters the way they think of the world and humanity. Psychologists now recognise this and call it the overview effect. No wonder then that a number of companies are vying to build rockets to take space tourists on the trip of a lifetime. But with the cost of even the cheapest tickets running into hundreds of thousands of pounds, it seems likely to be an experience most of us will be denied. Or does it?

Now two UK-based companies have joined forces to offer the experience to virtually anyone. And the key word is virtual. Immersive content studio Rewind and the space industry experts at In-Space Missions have launched SpaceTime Enterprises. They plan to launch multiple satellites that will broadcast real-time immersive video of the entire Earth. To plug into this view, the only thing needed will be a set of virtual reality goggles. (6/17)

Study Offers Pessimistic Outlook for Commercial Space Stations (Source: Space News)
As NASA formally requests proposals for studies on the commercialization of low Earth orbit, another study presented at a congressional hearing May 17 concludes commercial space stations are unlikely to be financially viable in the mid-2020s.

In testimony at a House Science Committee hearing on America’s future in low Earth orbit, Bhavya Lal of the Institute for Defense Analysis’ Science and Technology Policy Institute said a study performed by her organization found it unlikely that a commercial space station could generate a profit in 2025, the year NASA plans to end federal funding of the International Space Station.

The study looked at four different scenarios for a commercial station, with low and high costs and revenues. Only in one case, with high projected revenues and low operating costs, did the facility generate a profit. In a second case, with low costs and revenues, the facility had a small loss, but in the case of high costs the commercial station suffered large annual losses regardless of revenue. “Overall, our analysis showed that it is unlikely that a commercial space station would be economically viable by 2025,” Lal said. (5/18)

Nationwide Strike by ULA Workers Ends as Union Approves New Contract (Source: Florida Today)
A nearly two-week strike of United Launch Alliance came to an end Saturday afternoon when hundreds of union members voted to approve a revised contract with the launch services provider.

About 600 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, who are responsible for hardware-related work including rocket assembly and launch operations, will return to work Monday after voting against the company's original offer on May 6. Members had been picketing near ULA's major centers of operation at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida; Vandenberg Air Force Base, California; and Decatur, Alabama. (5/19)

How Space Travel Can Unite a Fractured World (Source: CNN)
They were just three men. But their peaceful message was seen by a billion people. And the timing couldn't have been better. Apollo 8 was credited with "saving" a terrible year. In 1968 the world was a mess. America was politically divided. Heroes Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy had been gunned down by assassins. More US troops were dying than ever in the Vietnam War. People were questioning authority and resisting the status quo. By Christmas Eve, the Apollo 8 crew — Frank Borman, Bill Anders and Jim Lovell — had made history. For the first time, humans had traveled to another world.

Apollo inspired young people who went on to change the world, like Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Also fired up by Apollo were two guys named Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, who of course went on to start their own aerospace companies.

Lovell thinks humans should return to the moon. "We've only scratched the surface of exploring the moon and what it could offer us," he said. Once humans develop the rockets and other infrastructure to return to the moon, then the technology "could be expanded to go to Mars." But Lovell added, "I think it's going to be a long time before anybody goes to Mars." Nonetheless, the future seems bright for more historic moments in space. (5/18)

ASRC Wins $1.2B NASA Computing Contract (Source: Washington Technology)
A subsidiary of ASRC Federal has won a potential 10-year, $1.2 billion contract to help NASA operate high-performance computing systems for the agency’s Ames Research Center and other hubs. The period of performance for ASRC's InuTeq subsidiary starts July 1 with a one-year base that is followed by nine one-year options, NASA said Thursday. The contract also includes a phase-in period that is worth $111.6 million. (5/18)

NASA’s Planet-Hunting TESS Probe Sends Back its First Test Image (Source: GeekWire)
One month after its launch, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite has sent back an initial test image that shows more than 200,000 stars in the southern sky. TESS’ image was taken by one of its cameras with a two-second exposure. The picture is centered on the constellation Centaurus, with the edge of the dark Coalsack Nebula at upper right and the star Beta Centauri prominent along the lower edge.

The picture provides only a hint of what TESS will be seeing once it starts delivering science-quality images next month. When all four wide-field cameras are in operation, TESS’ images should cover more than 400 times as much of the sky. (5/18)

NASA Chief Laments Texas School Shooting Near Johnson Space Center (Source: Space.com)
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine expressed anguish in response to the news of a school shooting in Texas today (May 18), a tragedy that occurred near the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The shooting occurred at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, which is located 15 miles from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. (5/18)

Astronauts and Cosmonauts Rock Out at the International Space Station (Source: Space.com)
An out-of-this world jam band is orbiting 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the Earth at the International Space Station right now. The station's Expedition 55 crew gathered up some musical instruments from around the orbiting lab to throw a "zero-g" jam session on April 27, dubbing their new group "AstroHawaii."

NASA astronauts Drew Feustel, Scott Tingle and Ricky Arnold and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Anton Shkaplerov brought together the musical stylings of Texas with Hawaiian drum and some Peruvian pipes for a unique concert for the universe. (5/18)

Russia to Develop Cargo Retrievable Spacecraft in 2022 (Source: Tass)
A Russian cargo retrievable spacecraft is expected to be developed for the needs of a new orbital station in 2022, Energia Rocket and Space Corporation, the spacecraft’s developer, said. A cargo retrievable spacecraft will be able to deliver two tonnes of cargoes into orbit and return 500 kg to the Earth and the spacecraft’s detachable compartment will have a capacity to house about another tonne of disposable cargo, which will burn in the dense layers of the atmosphere. (5/18)

Antares Rocket Rolls to Virginia Launch Pad, Liftoff Delayed to Monday (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
Orbital ATK transferred an Antares rocket and Cygnus supply ship to their launch pad on Virginia’s Eastern Shore late Thursday for a liftoff now targeted for Monday with more than 7,200 pounds of cargo heading for the International Space Station.

Riding a self-propelled transporter, the two-stage booster rolled out of Orbital ATK’s Horizontal Integration Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia, after nightfall Thursday for the mile-long journey south to pad 0A, where crews planned to hoist the 139-foot-tall (42.5-meter) launcher vertical for final preflight checkouts.

Liftoff of the OA-9 resupply mission is scheduled for 4:39 a.m. EDT Monday, a day later than previously planned. Orbital ATK, the prime contractor and operator of the Antares launcher and Cygnus supply ship, said in a statement Friday that the one-day delay was ordered “to support further pre-launch inspections and more favorable weather conditions.” There is an 80 percent probability of acceptable weather during Monday’s five-minute launch window, officials said. (5/18)

SpaceX Rocket Fairing Reappears on Mr Steven After Six Week Hiatus (Source: Teslarati)
A hop and a skip away from SpaceX’s first Falcon 9 Block 5 recovery, the company’s famous fairing recovery vessel Mr Steven was caught by Teslarati photographer Pauline Acalin performing some unusual maneuvers at sea, hauling what can only have been the intact fairing half recovered after SpaceX’s March 30 launch of Iridium NEXT-5. Why exactly the fairing half was aboard Mr Steven for high-speed trials and eventual delivery to Berth 240 – SpaceX’s future Mars rocket factory – is not entirely clear.

The most obvious explanation is that these new operations are in some way related to Falcon 9 payload fairing drop tests hinted at recently by CEO Elon Musk, tests that would allow the company to hone the accuracy of the autonomous parafoils currently used to recover them. In light of Mr Steven’s newly upgraded net, the goal is to gently catch each fairing before they touch down on the ocean’s surface – per SpaceX’s Hans Koenigsmann, even partial immersion in seawater precludes any future attempts at reuse. (5/17)

Colorado's Future as the Gateway to Space Exploration May Hit Some Roadblocks (Source: Denver Channel)
Colorado’s future as a hub for commercial space exploration may hit some roadblocks as the countdown continues on a 180-day review of a potential site-operator license for Spaceport Colorado. During a public hearing at Front Range Airport in Adams County on Thursday, FAA officials updated the public on an environmental study at the site.

The more than 120-page report details the plane's proposed launch route, minimal sonic booms and noise levels. The meeting was the next step to collect comments from the community and stakeholders like Denver International Airport (DIA), airlines, and pilot associations. Click here. (5/17)

House Committee Struggles with U.S. Future in LEO (Source: Space Policy Online)
The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee tackled the issue today of the future of the United States in low Earth orbit (LEO).  Committee members and witnesses agreed that the United States needs to have a presence in LEO, but the questions are how long to maintain operations of the International Space Station (ISS) and when the commercial sector will be ready to assume the primary role of LEO operations to support human spaceflight. No easy answers emerged. Click here. (5/18)

'China's Elon Musk' Ready to Take on US Space Ventures (Source: Nikkei)
The Chinese startup that launched the nation's first commercial rocket on Thursday aims to be a major global player in the space launch business. Beijing-based OneSpace, led by 32-year-old CEO Shu Chang, sent up the OS-X Chongqing Liangjiang Star from a site in Inner Mongolia at 7:33 a.m. The 9-meter-long, 7.2-ton rocket traveled a total of 273km during the five-minute flight, soaring as high as 38.7km.

"I hope we can become one of the world's foremost small-satellite launchers," Shu told reporters. OneSpace enjoys a notable cost advantage. A rocket launch comes in under $5 million -- less than one-third the international average. The entrepreneur, who founded OneSpace in 2015, is often referred to as the Chinese Elon Musk, after the Tesla chief who founded SpaceX in the U.S. (5/18)

A New Space Race in Asia (Source: East Asia Forum)
Asia houses three established space powers — Japan, China and India — with space exploration goals ranging from social and economic development to improving telecommunications and national security. But it is the national security drivers of Asian space exploration that are becoming more prominent, partly driven by the changing balance of power equations both within Asia and beyond.

China’s growing space capabilities are driving much of the space competition in Asia. For one, it has led to greater cooperation in space exploration between India and Japan. In September 2017, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed to put outer space at the center of their bilateral relationship. They welcomed the ‘deepening of cooperation between the space agencies of the two countries in the field of Earth observation, satellite-based navigation, space sciences and lunar exploration’.

The Indian space program is more than six decades old, and until recently, New Delhi’s primary focus was in using space technology to improve social and economic conditions for its population. Before China’s first anti-satellite (ASAT) test in January 2007, India appeared to think that security competition in outer space was confined to the big powers. Click here. (5/18) 

NASA Asks for Europa Lander Science Experiments—and That’s a Big Deal (Source: Ars Technica)
NASA is in various stages of planning two multi-billion dollar missions to Jupiter's intriguing, ice-covered moon of Europa. One, a flyby mission known as the Europa Clipper, will make dozens of passes of the moon down to an altitude of about 25km as it assesses the nature of the ice and the ocean below and looks for clues of habitability. A second even more ambitious mission would seek to actually land on Europa, sample its ice, and look for signs of life.

Both missions, but especially the lander, would be among the most complex, daring, and costly planetary science missions that NASA has attempted. However, both the Clipper and lander are not equally likely to occur. The Clipper is more established. It has been progressing through NASA's multi-tiered review process and has a launch date of 2022. In the president's budget request for fiscal year 2019, it also received $265 million in funding.

The lander mission has always seemed more tenuous, partly because it represents such a breathtaking challenge to land on an icy moon so far away—a nightmare glacier that is irradiated by nearby Jupiter and where the creaky surface rises and falls. In terms of complexity, the Europa Clipper spacecraft has a mass of about 6 tons, and the lander spacecraft will probably end up with a mass of about 16 tons. (5/18)

Embry-Riddle Alumni Support SOFIA Research (Source: ERAU Lift)
Navigator Jeff Wilson sits in tense anticipation as he waits for confirmation that the 747 he’s flying has reached its rendezvous point. Years ago, Wilson was a navigator on B-52 bombers for the Air Force. His military training and experience prepared him well for tonight’s mission. The target: Triton, a unique moon in a retrograde orbit around the planet Neptune that’s located 2.6 billion miles from Earth. Click here. (5/17)