May 23, 2018

SpaceX Achievements Generate Growing Interest in Reusable Launchers (Source: Space News)
As SpaceX launched another Falcon 9 with a previously-flown first stage May 22, both the company and its competitors are seeing a growing acceptance of reusable vehicles in the overall market. The Falcon 9 that launched five Iridium Next satellites and two GRACE-FO Earth science satellites from California used a first stage that first flew in January, carrying the classified Zuma payload. That booster was the 12th first stage to be reflown, counting the two used as side boosters in the inaugural Falcon Heavy launch in February.

Most of those Falcon 9 missions with reflown boosters have been for commercial customers, enticed at least in part by the modest discounts SpaceX has offered for using previously-flown stages. NASA has flown two Dragon cargo missions to the International Space Station on reflown boosters, but the agency says it evaluates the use of such vehicles on a case-by-case basis.

We see a future where the most risk-averse customers are likely to prefer to fly on the second flight of a booster rather than the first flight,” SpaceX's Josh Brost said. “Once you demonstrate you can fly it many times, you can see that first flight as essentially a check flight.” Brost said that SpaceX was working with “other government entities” about the use of previously-flown boosters. That’s likely to include the U.S. Air Force, which has not yet certified reflown Falcon 9 vehicles for its missions. (5/23)

Air Force Aims for Reliable Launch Services in Spite of Dramatic Changes in Commercial, Military Space (Source: Space News)
Sending national security satellites into orbit is about to become more complicated. In the past, launches largely fell into two categories: big, expensive satellites requiring extremely reliable rides and smaller satellites on slightly riskier rockets. In the future, the U.S. Air Force will launch satellites of all different sizes for customers with varying degrees of risk tolerance.

Through the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program, the Air Force has sent more than $50 billion in assets into orbit on 72 successful launches, Strizzi said. The Air Force’s Rocket Systems Launch Program, which is geared to smaller satellites traveling on orbital or suborbital rockets, has flown more than 700 payloads for various research and development, and technology demonstration missions, Strizzi said. He said a key ingredient of the Air Force’s success has been its intimate knowledge of how each rockets is designed, tested, fabricated and operated.

To meet the often conflicting requirements for speed and mission assurance, the Air Force is exploring greater use of parts that do not meet military standards, additive manufacturing, new propellants, collaboration with NASA and the National Reconnaissance Office, and combining the best practices of traditional space programs with elements of commercial “new space,” Strizzi said. “We hustle but we do not hurry or rush,” he said. “We are not running with scissors. We do all the right steps along the way to ensure high reliability.” (5/23)

NOAA’s New GOES-17 Weather Satellite has Degraded Vision at Night (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
Engineers are studying a malfunction with the main imaging instrument on NOAA’s GOES-17 weather satellite, launched March 1, that could limit the observatory’s ability to monitor storms, winds and other weather phenomena at night, officials said Wednesday. A cooling system aboard the satellite is unable to chill infrared detectors inside the Advanced Baseline Imager on GOES-17 to proper temperatures, degrading the camera’s performance.

The imager is designed to be sensitive to light in 16 channels, including 13 infrared and near-infrared wavelengths, and three colors in the visible spectrum. The thermal control anomaly currently under investigation affects the 13 infrared and near-infrared channels, according to Steve Volz, assistant administrator for NOAA’s satellite and information service. (5/23)

ICEYE Achieves the ‘Impossible’ with Miniature Radar Satellite (Source: Space News)
Until ICEYE produced its first image in January from a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) on its 70-kilogram ICEYE-X1 satellite, many people said microsatellites could not perform radar missions. While not impossible, it was challenging. To succeed, ICEYE’s founders Rafal Modrzewski and Pekka Laurila had to dispense with a lot of the traditional rules for building space-based radars.

Before founding ICEYE, Modrzewski moved from Warsaw, Poland, to Helsinki, Finland, to study radio science engineering at Aalto University and begin building a satellite. There, he met Laurila and the two enrolled in an Aalto University venture formation course taught by Mike Lyons, the Stanford University engineering professor who now serves as chief executive of ICEYE US Inc.

Modrzewski readily admits ICEYE’s satellites would fail some of the tests NASA spacecraft undergo before launch. Still, the first satellite is in orbit and it is gathering SAR imagery. “It did past this one test that was actually the ultimate test,” Modrzewski said. (5/23)

China to Launch Another 11 BeiDou-3 Satellites in 2018 (Source: Xinhua)
China will launch another 11 BeiDou-3 satellites by the end of 2018, adding to its domestic BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), said an official at an academic conference on Wednesday. China has already launched eight BeiDou-3 satellites. The satellites will provide initial services for countries and regions along the Belt and Road by the end of the year, said Wang Li, chairman of China Satellite Navigation System Committee.

Addressing the Ninth China Satellite Navigation Conference in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Wang said the BeiDou system is moving to become a global service provider after offering stable and reliable time and space information for clients in the Asia-Pacific region. (5/23)

How SpaceX Beat Boeing to Become a $28 Billion Aerospace Juggernaut (Source: CNBC)
SpaceX has vaulted to become one of the most valuable private companies in the world, with a valuation estimated at $28 billion. As its long-term prospects soar, it is steadily raising funds from global investors to fuel its lofty ambitions. The company's achievements have many awestruck: In February it launched the world's most powerful rocket since NASA's Saturn V. It stood more than 21 stories high.

In 2019, Musk believes SpaceX will be completing "short trips" for its Mars rocket system, while also beginning to roll out its constellation of 4,425 satellites. It is in the next stage of Musk's master plan to put 1 million people on the Red Planet to ensure the survival of the human race in the event of a world war or catastrophe on Earth.

The competition — archrival United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin — has certainly been put on notice. Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg told CNBC in February that he thinks SpaceX is "adding energy to the space market," which is "good for the country." "I don't think anyone can" compete with even Falcon Heavy, let alone BFR, former Pentagon Under Secretary of Defense for acquisition tech and logistics John Young told CNBC in February. "Musk said it's 'game over,' and I believe that's true." (5/22)

Take a 360 Tour inside Boeing's Starliner Factory at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Boeing)
One, two, three Boeing CST-100 Starliners are coming together inside this historic spacecraft factory at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The goal of the commercially developed and operating spacecraft is to return crew launch capabilities to NASA and the United States. Click here. (5/23)

Spaceflight Orchestrates Smallsat Launch on Arianespace’s Vega (Source: Via Satellite)
Arianespace has signed an agreement with Spaceflight Industries for the launch of several small payloads. This will be the inaugural mission for Spaceflight customer spacecraft on an Arianespace vehicle. The initial batch of spacecraft is slated for launch aboard Vega in early 2019 from Europe’s spaceport at the Guiana Space Center.

The contract with Seattle-based Spaceflight Industries covers a microsatellite and a significant number of CubeSats to be launched on the Small Spacecraft Mission System (SSMS) Proof of Concept (POC) flight as well as on a subsequent Vega SSMS flight about one year later. The Vega POC flight will also be the first mission of the SSMS, a modular carbon fiber dispenser developed within a program initiated by the European Space Agency. (5/23)

3-D Printers And Robotic Arms: How One Startup Plans To Build Colonies In Space (Source: Forbes)
When history’s pilgrims and pioneers arrived in a new territory, they used the land’s natural resources to build their settlements. Space colonists, on the other hand, will have to bring materials from Earth and assemble them on Mars. Andrew Rush, president and CEO of space-based manufacturing firm Made In Space, believes the process of creating off-world infrastructure will be similar to building IKEA furniture. Only the parts will be made with an advanced 3-D printer and put together by an autonomous robot.

Made In Space has been at the forefront of space manufacturing since it was founded in 2010. Four years ago, the California-based company’s 3-D printer became the first manufacturing device in space when it was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of a NASA demonstration project. The goal was to prove that a 3-D printer could be developed for use in zero gravity, and on 17 Dec. 2014 the device produced its first tool — a ratchet wrench — using a design file transmitted from Earth. Click here. (5/23)

Shotwell Says SpaceX is Profitable (Source: LA Times)
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said the privately held space company is valued at almost $28 billion based on recent funding rounds, and that it is profitable. Shotwell said the company has had "many years" of profitability. She admitted 2016 — when a Falcon 9 rocket exploded on a Florida launch pad, destroying a commercial communications satellite it was set to launch — was "tough," though she stopped short of saying the company lost money then. (5/22)

Cruz, Nelson Criticize Plan to End Direct ISS Funding in 2025 (lource: Parabolic Arc)
Sharply conflicting opinions about the future of the International Space Station (ISS) and America’s path forward in space were on view last week in a Senate hearing room turned boxing ring. In one corner was NASA Associate Administrator Bill Gerstenamier, representing a Trump Administration that wants to end direct federal funding for ISS in 2025 in order to pursue an aggressive campaign of sending astronauts back to the moon. NASA would maintain a presence in Earth orbit, becoming one of multiple users aboard a privatized ISS or privately-owned stations.

In the opposite corner were Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Bill Nelson (D-FL). Normally divided on almost every issues, the senators were united in their anger at what they viewed as the Trump Administration’s unilateral decision to end station support as well as their determination to keep the $100 billion facility operating until at least 2028 for the sake of NASA, space exploration, America and their states. The station’s current end date is 2024. (5/21)

This is What America’s New Space Shuttles Look Like (Source: Quartz)
US astronauts haven’t had their own ride into orbit since the space shuttle was retired in 2011. Two private companies are racing to replace it and become the first to fly astronauts for NASA. Boeing and SpaceX are being paid billions of dollars to build and operate crewed space capsules that will take humans to the International Space Station. NASA and the two companies recently shared new pictures of the astronauts and their custom spacesuits training for their flights with simulated missions in mock-up capsules. Click here. (5/22)

Shetland Spaceport Decision Expected in June (Source: Shetland News)
Last year Shetland Space Centre launched plans for a spaceport in the north of the island as the government looks to kick-start the satellite launching industry in the country. The team's proposals were discussed by Shetland Islands Council's development committee on Monday and chairman Alastair Cooper said the government is set to announce its preferred sites for vertical and horizontal launches on 12 June.

Development director Neil Grant warned that the government's desire to have launch capabilities by 2020 means that the clock is ticking. The government is offering financial support for the country's first launch site and there are other two other bids in Scotland from Sutherland and the Western Isles. (5/23)

German Team Is Now Trying to Make the ‘Impossible’ EmDrive Engine (Source: Motherboard)
German physicists launched the SpaceDrive project to explore possible sources of error in EmDrive experiments. Their first experiment identified a possible source of false positives in past successful EmDrive tests. In particular, they described their research results on the EmDrive, a type of “impossible” spacecraft engine that is theoretically able to generate thrust without any propellant. It’s a bit like trying to design a Formula One race car that doesn’t need any gas and is instead powered by the driver pushing on the inside of the windshield.

While the researchers didn’t crack the secret to the propellantless-engine, they did manage to create a hypersensitive measurement device and identify sources of possible false positives that will help to better characterize EmDrive experiments in the future. (5/21)

Russia to Create Orbital Internet Satellite Cluster by 2025 (Source: Tass)
Russian Space Systems Company (part of the State Space Corporation Roscosmos) plans to implement a project to create a global satellite communications network, which will require 288 satellites operating in the 870 km orbit by 2025, Company representative and project Head Yuri Mishin said. "The Efir project envisages an aerospace infocommunications network. This is the project of creating orbital Internet. We plan 288 satellites in the 870km obit. They will form a system expected to start operating in 2025," Mishin said. (5/22)

Dozens of Volunteers Apply for Joint US-Russian Simulated Moon Orbital Flight (Source: Sputnik)
About 50 people from various countries have shown interest in an experiment simulating the flight to an orbital station near the Moon, said a representative of the Institute of Medicobiological Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The experiment is part of international SIRIUS missions, which serve to help finish preparations for deep space flights, including flights to planned lunar-orbit space station Deep Space Gateway. (5/23)

NASA Satellites Track Unusual Changes in Earth's Water Supplies (Source: Space.com)
Fresh water is changing around the world, and a new set of NASA satellite observations is helping scientists better understand why. A new study suggests that the changes stem from human activities as well as natural variations in the climate. The data comes from 14 years of observations from the U.S./German Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) spacecraft mission.

The study shows that wet zones on Earth are getting even wetter, while dry zones are drying up, according to a statement from NASA. This is due to many factors, including climate change, how humans use water and natural environmental cycles. Changes in fresh water, particularly from ice near the poles (such as ice melting due to increasing temperatures), could affect how quickly sea levels rise. (5/22)

NASA-Trained Astronaut Joins Team in Bid for Australia's First Space Agency (Source: ABC)
New South Wales is hoping some extra star power will help its bid to bring the nation's first space agency to Sydney. Australia's first astronaut, Dr Paul Scully-Power, has been enlisted by the NSW Government to advise its bid to host the new Australian Space Agency. "Everyone thinks about space as being way out there," Dr Scully-Power said. "That used to be the case. But now it's way here. It's in our hands." (5/23)

White House Objects to HASC's Call for U.S. Space Command (Source: Space Policy Online)
The White House is objecting to the House Armed Services Committee’s (HASC’s) call for a U.S. Space Command to be created as a subunit of U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). The provision is part of the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) approved by HASC on May 9.  The House began consideration of the bill, H.R. 5515, today (Tuesday). The White House’s Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) says the provision is premature.

During debate on last year’s NDAA, the White House opposed HASC’s attempt to create a Space Corps within the Air Force analogous to the Marine Corps within the Department of the Navy. DOD, the Air Force, and the Senate also opposed it. The final FY2018 NDAA required a study on the best way to organize the Air Force and DOD to manage national security space activities. An interim report is due in August and the final version in December. (5/23)

B612 Foundation Embraces Small Satellites for Asteroid Detection (Source: Science)
Last week, an asteroid the size of Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza whizzed by Earth, missing it by half the distance to the moon. The concern that we may one day not be so lucky has long preoccupied the B612 Foundation, dedicated to finding asteroids that cross Earth’s orbit and could devastate humanity. B612 itself had a near-death experience 3 years ago, when its bold plans for an asteroid-hunting space telescope fell apart. But now, its ambitions are rising again with a new technique for finding menacing objects.

On 10 May, B612 announced a partnership with York Space Systems, a Denver-based maker of standard 85-kilogram satellites, to investigate building a fleet of small asteroid hunters. For many years, B612—which takes its name from the asteroid home of Antoine de Saint-ExupĂ©ry’s Little Prince—aimed to build and launch a much larger craft, Sentinel, a $450 million space telescope with a 50-centimeter mirror.

In 2012, NASA agreed to provide logistical support. But fundraising stalled and, in 2015, the agency ended its agreement with B612 because it wasn’t meeting mileposts, essentially killing the telescope. Now, B612 has developed a new technique to do the same thing at a far lower cost with small space telescopes. Ed Lu, B612's co-founder, expects the first telescope to cost about $10 million and believes a full constellation “would be a factor of many, many cheaper” than Sentinel. (5/23)

SpaceX Won’t Seek U.S. Rural Broadband Subsidies for Starlink Constellation (Source: Space News)
SpaceX says it will not go after any of the $2 billion in rural broadband subsidies the U.S. Federal Communications Commission will begin doling out this summer under its Connect America Fund II program.

The FCC invited telecommunications providers — including satellite operators — to bid July 24 for Connect America subsidies meant to make it financially worthwhile for companies to build out broadband networks to rural and remote areas otherwise too expensive to cover. The subsidies will be paid over 10 years using Universal Service Fund fees U.S. telcos routinely collect from customers. (5/23)

Shotwell Sees Satellites as Bigger Market Than Rockets (Source: GeekWire)
SpaceX is taking a commanding role in the rocket business — but Gwynne Shotwell, the company’s president and chief operating officer, expects the satellite business to be more lucrative. Shotwell sized up SpaceX’s road ahead in a CNBC interview that aired today in connection with the cable network’s latest Disruptor 50 list. For the second year in a row, the space venture founded by billionaire Elon Musk leads the list.

The 18 launches by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets accounted for 20 percent of the world’s orbital liftoffs last year, and Shotwell said she expects the launch tally to rise to between 24 and 28 for this year. Next year, however, could bring a “slight slowdown” to a level that’s more in line with 2017’s pace, Shotwell said. That’s due to a projected decline in demand for satellite launches.

The satellite launch service market has grown to an estimated $5.5 billion in 2016, according to the latest State of the Satellite Industry Report. But that pales in comparison with the $127.7 billion market for satellite services and the $113.4 billion market for satellite ground services. That’s why SpaceX is putting its chips down on a plan to provide global broadband access through its own satellite constellation, known as Starlink. (5/22)

The International Space Station Should be Preserved (Source: TownHall)
The Trump Administration rolled out a long-term plan to end funding for the International Space Station (ISS) in 2025, well after President Trump is no longer in power. It is easy for the rulers of today to direct future Administrations to take actions to save money and cut federal spending.  The problem with this idea is that it will hurt national security by ceding outer space to America’s many enemies and withdraw American participation in cooperative scientific research with other nations. At the end of the day this decision will not save the taxpayer any money and the costs just keep mounting.

The ISS is the only world orbiting laboratory dedicated to human space travel and it is just reaching the peak of scientific utility. The case for ending direct funding for the ISS is to dedicate more resources to deep space exploration. This should not be an “either-or” proposition and we can have both. After the shuttle’s all landed for good it began to look like America’s time in space was on its way down. The ISS has become a shining example of what we can do in space and allowed for cutting edge research never before dreamt of. Following through with this policy directive will hurt the American space program when it is finally on the rise. (5/23)

How America Will Launch More Rockets, And Faster (Source: Bloomberg)
In the 1960s, a rocket launch was big news all over the world. Sixty years later, it’s still a big deal. Sure, SpaceX has leaped forward with reusable vehicles, but the ability to make space travel a reliable, everyday event is still a way off.

The U.S. government and some private companies want to change that. The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is putting up $10 million to encourage launch firms to get faster and nimbler about traveling to space. The goal of the Rapid Launch Challenge is to hurl a small satellite into orbit with only a day’s notice—or less—from virtually anywhere in the country. (5/23)

New Network is Installed to Investigate Space Weather Over South America (Source: EurekAlart)
A group of Brazilian researchers affiliated with the National Space Research Institute (INPE) is working to install a network comprised of magnetometers (instruments used to measure the intensity of a magnetic field) across South America.

Known for its acronym Embrace MagNet (Embrace Magnetometer Network for South America), the project involves joint efforts from other Latin American institutions with the aim of studying the specific characteristics of magnetic field disturbances over the continent and comparing their intensities with those occurring elsewhere in the world. The possible damage done by space weather to electronic appliances is also a primary subject. (5/23)

The Nuclear Battle Between the Earth and Sun (Source: Space.com)
Deep in the sun's core, buried under hundreds of thousands of miles of twisting and convecting hydrogen and helium, a nuclear fire rages. At a temperature of over 15 million kelvins (27 million degrees Fahrenheit), the infernal pressures are high enough to squeeze together hydrogen nuclei, forging elemental helium and releasing a tiny bit of energy. Reaction after countless reaction, this energy accumulates and, in the form of photons, makes its way to the turbulent surface.

Once free, the photons race through empty space, bathing the solar system in radiance and heat. But they are not alone. The pent-up energies in the heart of the sun drive the surface into a boiling frenzy, and this kinetic turmoil unleashes floods of particles — the hydrogen and helium constituents of the sun's coronal atmosphere itself — that accelerate outward into space. (5/23)

The First Three Missions of NASA’s Next Big Rocket Will Have to Settle For a Less-Powerful Ride (Source: The Verge)
The first three missions of NASA’s next-generation rocket, the Space Launch System, will all fly on the least powerful version of the vehicle that the space agency plans to build. NASA is moving forward with its plan to use a downgraded version of the SLS for its second and third flights, according to a memo from NASA headquarters. The original plan was to fly those two flights on a much more powerful upgrade of the rocket, but now, it seems that version won’t debut until 2024 at the earliest.

The SLS, meant to take humans into deep space, has been under development for the last decade, with its first three missions mostly set in stone. However, these three missions weren’t all supposed to fly on the same version of the SLS. NASA is planning to make two main variants of the vehicle: Block 1 and Block 1B. Block 1B is designed with a much more powerful upper stage, allowing it to carry more than twice that weight. But now NASA is going to fly all three missions on Block 1.

The memo, signed by Bill Hill, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for exploration systems development, directs the space agency’s contractors to start planning for the change. Right now, NASA only has one mobile launch platform, which can only support flights of the Block 1. The platform would need significant upgrades to support Block 1B, requiring at least 33 months to complete. Under the original plan, NASA would first launch the inaugural mission of SLS on a Block 1 and then cease all flights of the rocket for nearly three years, while it upgraded the mobile launch platform. Now NASA has funding for a second platform. (5/22)

FAA Rulemakings Will Pave Way for New Supersonic Era (Source: AIN Online)
The FAA has launched two rulemakings that the agency said are designed to pave the way for development of civil supersonic aircraft. The first involves proposed noise certification for supersonic aircraft and the second is a clarification of procedures required to obtain special flight authorization to conduct supersonic flight-testing in the U.S. Neither rulemaking will rescind the current prohibition of supersonic flight over land without special FAA authorization, the agency added.

It is working in concert with the International Civil Aviation Organization Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection on noise and emissions standards for future supersonic aircraft, as well as collaborating with other national aviation authorities. (5/21)

Industry Warns of Launch Vehicle Glut (Source: Space News)
The launch industry is facing a shakeout in the coming years that could result in the failure of the vast majority of companies developing new vehicles, industry executives warned at a conference. Panelists in opening sessions of the Space Tech Expo conference here May 22 said they expect most of the current launch ventures to go out of business for one reason or another, primarily due to insufficient demand.

“There are way too many” companies in the launch market, said Greg Jones, senior vice president of business development and strategy for Aerojet Rocketdyne. “Eighty or ninety percent won’t make it to the end. Maybe there’s room for a dozen launch vehicles worldwide or something on that level.”

That surge of development is concentrated at the small end of the vehicle spectrum, with dozens of vehicles in various stages of design or testing. “It reflects the excitement going on in the small satellite market,” said Stephen Eisele, Vice President of Virgin Orbit, which is developing the LauncherOne small launch vehicle. (5/22)

SpaceX Launches Five Iridium Satellites and Twin Science Spacecraft (Source: Space News)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 still sporting soot from its last mission successfully launched May 22 with five Iridium Next satellites and two science satellites for NASA and the German Research Center for Geosciences. The rocket, reusing a first stage booster that successfully launched Northrop Grumman’s failed Zuma mission in January, took off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

The twin Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow On (GRACE-FO) satellites separated from the rocket’s upper stage approximately 11 minutes later. Iridium’s five spacecraft separated one by one around 65 minutes into the mission. SpaceX did not attempt to recover the Falcon 9’s first stage. The rocket was a Block 4 version, designed for two to three reflights of the same first stage.

The company did try to recover the payload fairings, used to protect the satellites as the rocket exited the atmosphere, but was unsuccessful. The fairings landing in the Pacific Ocean after deploying parachutes to slow their descent. SpaceX’s launch narrator said a recovery vessel named Mr. Steven “came very close” to catching them using a giant upward facing net. Mr. Steven is so far 0 for 3 trying to catch the fairings. (5/22)

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