September 22, 2018

Stratolaunch Reveals Hypersonic Testbed Partner (Source: Aviation Week)
Air launch space company Stratolaunch Systems has unveiled study plans for a pair of hypersonic flying testbeds that could be launched from the company’s very large carrier aircraft currently in pre-flight testing at Mojave, California. The testbeds, if developed, could provide a stepping stone towards Stratolaunch’s planned family of space launch vehicles, which includes a series of modular small to medium payload rockets and a fully reusable space plane.

This medium-class payload concept, dubbed internally as the “Black Ice” project, also is targeted at carrying astronauts to low Earth orbit. Beyond the development role, however, Stratolaunch says it is looking for potential industry partners to help develop the concept into a family of flying testbeds for U.S. national hypersonic projects. (9/19)

Inside the Eight Desperate Weeks That Saved SpaceX From Ruin (Source: Ars Technica)
Three times, in 2006, 2007, and 2008, SpaceX tried to launch a Falcon 1 rocket from Omelek Island in the Pacific Ocean, a coral shelf perhaps a meter above sea level and the size of three soccer fields. Less than two months after the last failure, the money was running out. SpaceX had just one final rocket to launch, with only some spare components left over in its California factory.

“We all knew that the stakes were incredibly high,” Zach Dunn recalled of that feverish period in 2008. This time, the Falcon 1 had to work. And the kids knew it. Barely a year out of graduate school and just 26, Dunn nonetheless was a senior engineer over the rocket’s first stage. “It was tense. There was a lot of pressure.” Click here. (9/21)

Airbus Wins ESA Studies for Future Human Base in Lunar Orbit (Source: Space Daily)
The European Space Agency (ESA) has commissioned Airbus for two studies for possible European involvement in the future human base in lunar orbit. The Gateway, previously known as the Deep Space Gateway (DSG) or Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway (LOP-G), is a project involving the US, Russian, Canadian, Japanese and European space agencies. (9/21)

Astronauts Going to Mars Will Absorb Crazy Amounts of Radiation. Now We Know How Much. (Source: Space.com)
New data from one of the many spacecraft at work around Mars confirm just how dangerous a round-trip human journey would be by measuring the amount of radiation an astronaut would experience. "Radiation doses accumulated by astronauts ... would be several hundred times larger than the doses accumulated by humans over the same time period on Earth, and several times larger than the doses of astronauts and cosmonauts working on the International Space Station," said Jordanka Semkova.

"Our results show that the journey itself would provide very significant exposure for the astronauts to radiation." Those results are based on data from the European Space Agency's Trace Gas Orbiter, a spacecraft that has been circling the Red Planet since 2016. One of the instruments it carries is a dosimeter, which has been taking measurements throughout the orbiter's journey.

According to the team behind the new research, those measurements show that just getting to and from Mars would expose astronauts to at least 60 percent of the current recommended maximum career exposure. What precisely that recommended maximum is varies with sex and age, but it ranges from 1 sievert for a 25-year-old woman to 4 sieverts for a 55-year-old man. (The measurement of sieverts already accounts for differences in weight.) (9/20)

New Mission For ISS: Go Commercial (Source: Aviation Week)
NASA is soliciting industry proposals for what is expected to become the first piece of a new multipurpose spaceport circling in the vicinity of the Moon, an initiative known as the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, but the real bridge for expanding the U.S. human presence in space is anchored some 200,000 mi. closer to home, aboard the International Space Station (ISS), which in November marks its 20th year in orbit. (9/21)

Arianespace to Launch KOMPSAT-7 for the South Korea (Source: Space Daily)
Arianespace has been selected by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute to launch KOMPSAT-7. Stephane Israel, Arianespace CEO, and Lim Cheol-Ho, President of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), signed the KOMPSAT-7 launch contract today. Using a Vega C launcher, the mission will be conducted from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, from December 2021. (9/21)

Get Ready for a Flood of New Exoplanets: TESS Has Already Spotted Two (Source: Ars Technica)
NASA's successor to the Kepler mission, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), is already paying dividends. The satellite was only launched in April and spent time undergoing commissioning and calibration. But it has now started its science mission, and researchers have already discovered two new planets.

These are expected to be the first of as many as 10,000 planets spotted by TESS. So we thought this was a good opportunity to take a careful look at the planet hunter's design, the goals that informed the design, and what its success should mean for our understanding of exoplanets. (9/21)

Bezos to Continue Pumping Billions into Blue Origin (Source: Space News)
Jeff Bezos said he will continue investing billions of dollars into his space company, Blue Origin. Speaking at the AFA conference Wednesday, Bezos said he plans to spend "just over a billion dollars" next year in the development of Blue Origin's New Glenn launch vehicle. He said he had already invested a billion dollars in the development of the Florida factory where the rocket will be built and its launch pad at Cape Canaveral. He also discussed the importance of space dominance for the U.S. amid changing threats, and that the U.S. has to "be able to go to space more frequently, with less lead time." Bezos spent much of the highly anticipated address, though, talking about non-space topics. (9/21)

Air Force Wants Better Satellites (Source: Space News)
The general in charge of Air Force Space Command said that military satellite systems need to be more resilient. Gen. Jay Raymond likened existing constellations to "slow kids in gym class that can't run very fast" in a panel discussion Wednesday at the AFA conference. He said the Air Force was looking at ways to make existing systems more resilient while developing future "defendable architectures." (9/21)

Aerojet Rocketdyne Sees Acquisitions Ahead (Source: Space News)
Aerojet Rocketdyne is pursuing potential acquisitions as it sheds more of its debt. Speaking at a recent investment conference, Aerojet CEO Eileen Drake said she is interested in opportunities to acquire companies or product lines, citing as an example its purchase of missile developer Coleman Aerospace from L-3 last year. That moves comes as the company has reduced its debt from more than $460 million in 2015 to just over $100 million now. Drake also said the company continues to develop its AR1 engine for potential use on United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket, but doesn't know when ULA will make a decision between it and Blue Origin's BE-4. (9/21)

Russia Plans to Develop Reusable Stage for Carrier Rocket by 2023 (Source: Sputnik)
A fully-functioning prototype of the return stage of a reusable launch vehicle will be built in Russia within the next four years, an official from Russia's Advanced Research Foundation (FPI) told Sputnik. "As for the whole project, we are counting on four years from the start of the fully-fledged work...According to our estimates, the work will begin in the first half of next year." (9/21)

China Unveils Reusable First Stage for Long March 6X (Source: GB Times)
A Chinese organization has unveiled a model of a Long March rocket with a reusable first stage. The Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST), a subsidiary of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, put a model of the Long March 6X rocket on display at a Chinese conference this week. The rocket is a version of the Long March 6 featuring a first stage equipped with landing legs for vertical powered landings, like SpaceX's Falcon 9. SAST says the rocket, whose first flight is planned for 2021, should be able to reduce launch costs by 30 percent. (9/21)

Ivanka Trump Visits JSC with Ted Cruz (Source: Houston Chronicle)
The daughter of President Trump toured the Johnson Space Center. Ivanka Trump, who serves as an adviser to the president, will visit JSC with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine to tour the facility and also speak with astronauts on the space station. Also expected to be in attendance is Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

Ivanka Trump said that being an astronaut would be her "dream job." Trump visited the Johnson Space Center Thursday and, in addition to a tour of the center's facilities, spoke with ISS crewmembers, where she expressed her interest in spaceflight. The visit was intended to promote science and technology education and workforce training, according to the White House. Ivanka Trump has at least one fan on the ISS: "When I see you on TV and the news, my mood improves and rises," Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev told her. (9/21)

European Startup Picks Rocket Lab for Constellation Launch (Source: Space News)
A European startup developing a constellation for radiofrequency geolocation work will launch its first satellites next year with Rocket Lab. Luxembourg-based Kleos Space said Wednesday it will launch an unspecified number of nanosatellites on a Rocket Lab Electron in mid-2019. Those satellites will be used to help identify and track sources of radio emissions like ships that can't be identified through other means. Kleos earlier signed a contract with GomSpace for the construction of those satellites. (9/21)

Georgia Spaceport Attracts Small Launch Vehicle Developer (Source: Space News)
A small launch vehicle developer will set up test operations in Georgia as a potential prelude to launching from the state. The Camden County Joint Development Authority announced an agreement this week with ABL Space Systems, a California company developing the RS1 small launch vehicle, to establish an integration and test site on the grounds of a recently closed airport in the county. That work could lead to launches by the company from Spaceport Camden, a proposed launch site on the Atlantic coast currently going through the FAA license application process. (9/21)

Northrop Grumman Confident Air Force Will Continue to Fund the company’s New Rocket (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Air Force said it will soon reveal which suppliers it selected to develop space vehicles for future national security launches. Rocket manufacturers Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, SpaceX, and United Launch Alliance, along with engine supplier Aerojet Rocketdyne, received an initial round of research and development contracts.

They are hoping to be chosen for the next round of awards for what the Air Force calls “Launch Service Agreements.” A new player said to be in the mix is Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. Analysts see SpaceX and ULA as the front runners, while there is continued speculation about the future of Northrop Grumman’s newly designed Omega vehicle. Mike Laidley, vice president of the Omega program at Northrop Grumman, told SpaceNews that the company believes it has a strong chance to win another LSA contract. (9/21)

DOD Budget Analyst Challenges Air Force Cost Estimate for Space Force (Source: Space News)
Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson’s estimate of what it will cost to stand up a new military service for space is not credible and the numbers appear inflated, defense budget analyst Todd Harrison said. Harrison, director of defense budget analysis and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Wilson’s $13 billion estimate — which includes setting up a Department of the Space Force, a U.S. Space Command, a Space Development Agency and sustaining them over five years — is grossly inflated.

He said it includes thousands of additional personnel that might not be needed and a billion-dollar construction project that seems questionable. Wilson on Tuesday characterized the $13 billion number as “conservative” and suggested it could go higher once all the data is crunched. Harrison said the estimate lacks sophistication and appears to have been slapped together in a hurry. CSIS budget analyst Seamus Daniels calculated that the personnel costs were based on a per-person annual compensation of $175,000. (9/21)

Northrop Grumman Tests New Strap-On Booster for Atlas-5 (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
Northrop Grumman carried out a successful test Thursday of a new strap-on booster for the Atlas 5. The company carried out the static-fire test of the solid-fuel GEM 63 booster at a Utah test site, the first of two qualification tests planned. ULA plans to start using the GEM 63 boosters on an Atlas 5 mission for the Air Force in mid-2019, replacing similar boosters that had been manufactured by Aerojet Rocketdyne. (9/21)

Russian Official: NASA Wants ISS Operational Through 2028 (Source: TASS)
A Russian official claims that NASA wants to extend operations of the International Space Station though at least 2028. Oleg Kotov, deputy director of the Institute of Biomedical Problems under the Russian Academy of Sciences, said in an interview that NASA has "already initiated prolongation of the station’s operation till 2028-2030 and this work is already in progress." He didn't elaborate on the source of that claim. NASA announced as part of its 2019 budget request that it would seek to end direct funding of the ISS in the mid-2020s as part of a transition to commercial providers. (9/21)

NOAA Awards Millions for Weather Satellite Data (Source: Space News)
NOAA issued contracts this week to three companies to provide weather satellite data. The contracts, with a combined value of more than $8 million, cover delivery of GPS radio occultation data that can be used in weather forecasting. The contracts are the second round of NOAA's Commercial Weather Data Pilot program to study the feasibility of using such data. Two of the companies that received new contracts, GeoOptics and Spire, also won contracts in the first round of the program in 2016, although only Spire was able to deliver data. The third company, PlanetIQ, plans to launch its first satellites in the first half of next year. (9/21)

Artists Excited for Flight Opportunity (Source: Space.com)
Some artists are excited about the possibility about flying around the moon on a SpaceX rocket. Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa announced Monday he would take several artists with him on the circumlunar flight of SpaceX's BFR vehicle that he is purchasing, although he hasn't announced any details yet about the selection process. "Symbolically, I think it's thrilling to start a dialogue that science is kind of included in the humanities for the continuing exploration of our moon," said one artist. Another, expressed concern about how serious Maezawa and SpaceX are about the project, including whether they're "thinking about artists in a marketing sense as opposed to what artists are actually doing." (9/21)