September 13, 2018

Space Florida's Launch Complex 20 Deal Could Ready Spaceport for Small Launchers (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Space Florida is one step closer to wooing small rocket companies into coming to the Space Coast. An agreement with the Air Force allows Space Florida to begin doing environmental assessments and other work at Launch Complex 20 (LC-20) in advance of any formal work that would be done once the agency secures a specific customer. Space Florida is eyeing Rocket Lab, Firefly Aerospace [and probably Vector Space] to use the pad. "I don’t know that we will get all three because there is a lot of competition, but I’d be disappointed if we don’t get at least one,” Ketcham said.

LC-20 was formerly the site of Titan rocket launches dating back to the late 1950s. While other locations may be able to support small rocket companies, Ketcham said LC-20 is particularly valuable because “it can be deployed quickly with less cost than any others.” Space Florida’s value proposition to the industry is that it will secure and develop the pad up front, help private companies invest on capital improvements and finance construction and equipment, ultimately lowering upfront costs and speeding up the process. The historic pad includes a 6,000 square foot hangar for horizontal launch vehicles two launch areas and a blockhouse for observing launches that is still operational.

Editor's Note: When I worked for Space Florida's predecessor agency, the Spaceport Florida Authority, we built the LC-20 horizontal processing facility and prepared the "flat pad" launch area for future small rocket users. The initial intended user was the Minotaur program, which uses repurposed ICBM stages to launch small military payloads. We also installed a borrowed 50K rail-launch system for notional microsatellite vehicles and suborbital missions. Together with LC-46, the proposed Shiloh launch area, and other sites identified by NASA at KSC, LC-20 makes the Cape ready for small launchers. (9/13)

Orion Parachute Test a Success (Source: Space.com)
NASA's Orion spacecraft passed a final test of its parachute system. During the test Wednesday at the Yuma Proving Ground, a Orion capsule model was released from a C-17 cargo aircraft at an altitude of nearly 10,000 meters, deploying its three parachutes to descend to a landing on the desert floor. Early review of the test indicates the parachutes performed as planned. This test was the last planned before the parachutes are approved for use on future crewed Orion missions. (9/13)

UP Aerospace Launches NASA Suborbital Experiment at Spaceport America (Source: Albuquerque Journal)
Up Aerospace launched a sounding rocket Wednesday from Spaceport America, carrying a NASA experiment. The company's SpaceLoft rocket lifted off from the New Mexico spaceport and reached a planned peak altitude of about 115 kilometers. The rocket carried the Adaptable Deployable Entry and Placement Technology (ADEPT), a NASA experiment to test deployable reentry heat shields. (9/13)

Technical Issue Delays Japanese Landing Practice Run at Ryugu Asteroid (Source: Mainichi)
Controllers scrapped a landing rehearsal for Japan's Hayabusa2 asteroid spacecraft because of technical problems. Controllers stopped the spacecraft from approaching the asteroid Ryugu when its lasers no longer provided accurate distance data as the spacecraft approached to within 600 meters of the surface. Engineers speculate that the "pitch black" surface of the asteroid hindered the laser, and are considering alternative procedures to collect altitude data. (9/13)

Former Stratolaunch Executivec to Lead SmallSat Alliance (Source: Space News)
A smallsat industry group has brought on a former Stratolaunch executive as its new president. Steve Nixon will run the SmallSat Alliance, which represents more than 40 companies in the industry who are interested in working with the federal government but don't have the resources for their own government relations efforts. Nixon was previously a vice president at Stratolaunch who also worked as a House staffer and in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. (9/13)

PlanetWatchers Plans Agricultural and Energy Focus (Source: Space News)
A geospatial analytics startup is planning to move into agricultural and energy businesses. PlanetWatchers was founded in 2016 by two Israeli entrepreneurs to use synthetic aperture radar data to help governments, corporations and nonprofits that depend on natural resources increase productivity and better manage their assets. The company started in forestry but is now expanding into sugarcane and energy markets as it works to raise a new round of $3–4 million. (9/13)

European Commission Skeptical of UK Navigation Satellite Plan (Source: Guardian)
The president of the European Commission expressed skepticism about Britain's satellite navigation plans. Jean-Claude Juncker noted that "no single member state" of the European Union could have developed the Galileo satellite navigation system on its own. The British government recently announced plans to study the development of its own system if it is unable to work out an agreement with the EU to continue to participate in Galileo post-Brexit. (9/13)

OneWeb Cost Concerns Grow (Source: Space News)
Concerns are growing about OneWeb amid personnel changes and potential cost growth. Speaking at World Satellite Business Week, Eric Béranger, president and COO of OneWeb, would no longer affirm that the company's satellites would cost $500,000 each, instead saying the satellites would cost less than $1 million. Other analysts project the satellites to cost $700,000 to $900,000 each once large-scale production gets underway. OneWeb, meanwhile, has assigned the CEO role that Béranger prevuously had to Adrian Steckel, making Steckel OneWeb's fourth CEO is as many years. (9/13)

Luxembourg Space Agency Formed (Source: Space News)
The government of Luxembourg formally opened its new space agency Wednesday to support the country's space industry. The Luxembourg Space Agency will be tasked with priorities ranging from funding for companies to education and workforce development. The government plans to soon establish a 100-million-euro fund as a public-private partnership to invest in startups. The agency also provides stability for Luxembourg's space initiatives ahead of a parliamentary election next month. (9/13)

GapSat Orders Small GEO Satellite (Source: Space News)
A company that resells excess satellite capacity is buying its own small GEO satellite. GapSat said it ordered the GapSat-1 satellite from smallsat developer Terran Orbital for launch in 2020. The satellite will carry payloads in several bands, but the company didn't specify where the satellite will operate in GEO or who will launch it. (9/13)

Are Investments in Space Programs a Waste of Money? (Source: Orbital Matters)
Calculating the Return on Investment (ROI) for any product and industry is tricky due to the number of moving parts. Doing so for space investments is no different, and might in fact be more difficult. Many companies and industries have benefited to varying degrees from space-related innovation, so determining which to include in the calculation is subject to debate. Consider that the global financial system is entirely dependent on GPS technology, as is modern transportation. Should we include the respective revenue from companies like Bank of America, Uber, and Google Maps in our ROI?

In addition to R&D, the space economy contributes to the world economy in many other ways. After all, every single dollar or other currency invested in space programs have been spent on Earth, providing wages to thousands of highly skilled and educated workers and contractors. Global government spending for example amounted to around $83 billion in 2016, funding over 70 space programs and their workforce.

Every sector of the global economy can utilize space assets to enhance or revolutionize itself. Many industries have been around for so long that they only experience incremental advances. The amount of milk a cow produces can be increased by so much. Space has more potential than any other industry not only because technology and science are its fundamental drivers, but also because it is still in its infancy. There is so much we don’t know or have yet to discover. Click here. (9/12)

Scientists Draw Up Plan to Colonize Mars (Source: Astronomy)
The idea of building a base to colonize Mars and become an interplanetary species has seen decades of talk and not a whole lot of action, but now at least there’s plan. On September 10, researchers from the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), a Switzerland university and research center, laid out a step-by-step guide to creating a sustainable research facility on Mars. Their specific plan outlines how we would get there, set up camp and create an environment that would be habitable in the long term.

By adopting this strategy, researchers could finally start planning humanity’s long-awaited trip to the Red Planet. The first step to building a colony, of course, is to figure out where you’ll have the best chance of survival. For Mars, the researchers set their sights on the planet’s poles. The base that they designed consists of three units: a central core, three surrounding capsules and a massive over-arching dome. The three capsules surrounding the central core would function as airlocks — passages that connect the core and the Martian surface and minimize changes in air pressure between the two.

An enormous polyethylene fiber dome, topped with 16 feet (5 m) of ice, would encapsulate the entire based. Once the robots have scoped out the site and created a safe place for humans, a six-person crew would start their journey to the Red Planet. This would ideally take place during the polar summer, when the crew could soak up 288 straight days of Martian sunlight. Click here. (9/12)

Champagne in Space: High-Tech Bottle Gets Test Flight (Source: BBC)
Future space tourists may be sipping champagne in orbit if a uniquely designed twin-chambered bottle with "egg cup" glasses proves a success. On Wednesday, a specially equipped aircraft will take off from the heart of the French champagne region to test the novel way of dispensing bubbly. The plane will make a series of steep climbs before plunging down to create 20-second intervals of weightlessness. The new bottle design was commissioned by the Mumm champagne house. (9/12)

Supply of Russian Rocket Engines to China Will Benefit Ties (Source: Sputnik)
The Chinese side has commented on Monday's statement by Russian space corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin, saying that Russia was prepared to supply rocket engines to China. Russia will strengthen cooperation with China by supplying its rocket engines to the Asian country, Hu Bin, counselor of the Department of Treaty and Law at China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said.

The official went on speaking about the US participation in a multilateral treaty on space arms control. "Of course the United States should be in [the treaty], it would be better if the United States is in because the United States is a very powerful space-faring country. We need US participation, that is why China tries to accommodate the concerns [of other countries]," Hu said on the sidelines of the first UN Conference on Space Law and Policy, asked whether such an agreement would be effective without US participation. (9/12)

Fake Space News: Russia's Sputnik News Agency Spreads Innuendo About US Involvement in Soyuz Leak (Source: Sputnik)
The situation around a hole in the fabric of a Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft, docked to the International Space Station (ISS), is more complicated than it was expected, Dmitry Rogozin, the chief of the Russian space agency Roscosmos stated. Rogozin confirmed that a commission of Russia's Energia Rocket and Space Corporation had failed to determine the origin of the hole yet.

Rogozin refused to comment on media reports alleging that US astronauts could have been responsible for the emergence of the hole on Soyuz. A source told Sputnik on Thursday that an internal investigation, held by Energia, which is the spacecraft manufacturer, showed that the hole had been deliberately made by a drill bit. The company, however, failed to identify the perpetrators. (9/12)

Russian Theory That NASA Sabotaged the Soyuz Spreading Like Wildfire (Source: Ars Technica)
Multiple Russian publications are publishing an absurd new theory—that a NASA astronaut deliberately caused the leak on board the station in order to force the evacuation of a sick crew member. The story has spread like wildfire during the last 24 hours. One of the most prominent articles says Russian investigators are vigorously pursuing the claim that Americans may have damaged the Soyuz deliberately. Several sources from the space agency are leaking comments to the Russian media.

“Our Soyuz is next to the Rassvet (Dawn) module, right next to the hatch into the American segment of the station," one source told Kommersant. "Access to our ship is possible only with the permission of our commander, but we cannot exclude an unsanctioned access by the Americans." The working theory goes something like this: one of the American crew members got ill sometime in August. To leave the station would have required the departure of three astronauts and cosmonauts, because a Soyuz cannot depart without a full crew, as this would not leave enough seats for an emergency evacuation.

The motive for the sabotage seems to be that NASA did not want to pay the entire cost of a new Soyuz, probably about $85 million. Therefore, to force the evacuation but not have to pay for the cost of an additional Soyuz to fly to the station, a NASA astronaut drilled a hole in the orbital module of one of the Soyuz spacecraft. According to the reports, this "Version B" theory is now a priority investigation by a special commission set up by Roscosmos after the leak. The commission has reportedly sought American video recordings from on board the station. (9/12)

Report: Texas Ranks No. 2 for Aerospace Manufacturing Attractiveness [Florida Drops to 15] (Source: Houston Chronicle)
A strong economy and favorable tax policy helped Texas rank as the second-most attractive state for aerospace manufacturing, according to a report released Wednesday by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Seventeen of the world's 20 largest aerospace manufacturers have major operations in Texas, including Lockheed Martin's production of the F-35 fighter jet, and about 9 percent of all U.S. aerospace manufacturing jobs are in the state.

The report cited Washington, where Boeing's commercial aircraft business is based, as the most attractive state for aerospace manufacturing. Last year, Texas ranked No. 8. Texas has several projects contributing to its increase in manufacturing jobs. Bell, part of Textron, recently signed a deal with Uber to develop and build a flying taxi prototype. And Lockheed is ramping up production of its F-35 to fulfill growing orders. It's also hiring additional workers to help build up to 160 fighters a year by 2019.

Editor's Note: Florida ranked #6 in 2017, a few spots ahead of Texas. This year Florida dropped to #15. Relative to the other 49 states, Florida's biggest downward shifts were in the categories of cost (a 20 point drop) and infrastructure (a 23 point drop). Florida also lost ground in the categories of labor, and economy, while the state's rankings improved slightly for tax policy and industry.  (9/13)

Space Florida Signs Right of Entry for Space Launch Complex 20 (Source: Space Florida)
Space Florida’s Board of Directors has ratified a formal Right of Entry agreement between Space Florida and the United States Air Force for Space Launch Complex 20 (SLC-20) at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The Right of Entry agreement will allow Space Florida to fast-track site assessment in anticipation of entering a lease with the United States Air Force to enable redevelopment of the historic site for commercial small satellite launch.

Previously used for Titan launch operations, SLC-20 is positioned to support the emerging small satellite launch market with existing infrastructure that includes a 6,000 square-foot hangar for horizontal launch vehicle processing, two launch areas with lightning protection, and a blockhouse in operational condition. SLC-20 is centrally located at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, which offers the widest range of launch azimuths on the East Coast, and unparalleled launch support infrastructure and services as the most active spaceport in the world.

By securing and developing fallow assets such as SLC-20 and sub-leasing to industry, Space Florida can provide a variety of financial tools. This toolbox can be leveraged by industry for the development of spaceport infrastructure, including investment in capital improvements via the Florida Spaceport Improvement Program and financing of construction and equipment through Space Florida’s unique conduit financing structure. These tools are designed to lower upfront capital requirements and ongoing cost of operations for commercial companies, while encouraging private investment in the spaceport necessary to enable sustainable growth and certainty into the future. (9/12)