November 8, 2018

Space Coast Aerospace Industry Apprenticeships Event Planned Nov. 13 (Source: SCAC)
As part of National Apprenticeship Week, the Space Coast Apprenticeship Consortium will be hosting a Space Coast Consortium Open House and Networking Event on Nov. 13. The event will take place at the Knight’s Armament Function Hall in Titusville, Florida. Community stakeholders, local dignitaries, and the press are invited to attend this open house event. Due to the event logistics and over 90 attendees already scheduled to attend the event, this event will be by invitation only. (11/8)

Johns Hopkins Scientist Finds Elusive Star with Origins Close to Big Bang (Source: Space Daily)
Astronomers have found what could be one of the universe's oldest stars, a body almost entirely made of materials spewed from the Big Bang. The discovery of this approximately 13.5 billion-year-old tiny star means more stars with very low mass and very low metal content are likely out there - perhaps even some of the universe's very first stars.

The star is part of the Milky Way's "thin disk" - the part of the galaxy in which our own sun resides. And because this star is so old, researchers say it's possible that our galactic neighborhood is at least 3 billion years older than previously thought. The newly discovered star's extremely low metallicity indicates that, in a cosmic family tree, it could be as little as one generation removed from the Big Bang. It is the new record holder for the star with the smallest complement of heavy elements --it has about the same heavy element content as the planet Mercury. In contrast, our sun is thousands of generations down that line and has a heavy element content equal to 14 Jupiters. (11/6)

Space Florida Gets FAA Spaceport License for Shuttle Landing Facility (Source: Space Florida)
The FAA issued Space Florida a Launch Site Operator License (LSOL) for operations at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF). This landmark license, which is required by any site with multiple users, expands the capabilities of the Cape to multiple horizontal launch and landing customers. The license allows the Cape Canaveral Spaceport to support operations of aircraft that carry an air-launched vehicle such as the Northrup Grumman Pegasus, Vulcan Systems’ Stratolaunch, Virgin Orbit Launcher One, Virgin Galactic Spaceship 2, Starfighters F-104-based missions, potential new national security programs and others.

The issuance of LSOL culminates a multi-year effort as Space Florida and the FAA completed significant policy, safety, and environmental planning and assessment. Submitted in February 2018, the 120+ page Space Florida application was reviewed, assessed and ultimately approved by the FAA for compliance with Federal statute. For the Environmental Assessment, Space Florida and the FAA reviewed over 400 comments from various agencies including NASA, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service.

The Landing Facility license is a key part in transforming the Cape Canaveral Spaceport into the world's premier spaceport. With “space” as a mode of transportation in Florida, a vital partnership with the Florida Department of Transportation and its Spaceport Improvement Program, enabled this important capacity improvement to the Florida Spaceport System. (11/8)

Embry-Riddle and Florida Tech Collaborate on Spaceflight Research (Source: ERAU)
With the common goal of improving human performance inside spacecraft, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Florida Institute of Technology have announced a year-long collaboration on research involving spaceflight. The joint effort involves Embry-Riddle’s S.U.I.T. (Spacesuit Utilization of Innovative Technology) Lab at Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach Campus and principal investigator Dr. Ryan Kobrick, assistant professor of Spaceflight Operations, along with Florida Tech’s Human Spaceflight or HSF Lab, directed by Assistant Professor Dr. Ondrej Doule.

Both labs were founded in 2017 to support their human spaceflight programs and both are directly involved in the rapidly evolving space industry. Embry-Riddle’s S.U.I.T. Lab is geared toward spacesuit development, performance assessment, human physiology, spacesuit systems design and related operations, while Florida Tech’s HSF Lab is focused on spaceship cabin and flight deck system architecture, human system integration, planetary outpost architecture and related simulators design. (11/7)

Nelson, Rohrabacher Await Ballot Recounts (Sources: Orlando Sentinel, LA Times)
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) says he's seeking a recount in his race to win another Senate term. Nelson was trailing Scott by fewer than 22,000 votes, out of more than 8.1 million cast, in the latest tally, within the 0.5 percent margin needed for a recount under state law. Nelson, the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee and leading figure in space policy, declined to concede Wednesday, saying his campaign would request a recount.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), trailing in his reelection race against Harley Rouda, also had not conceded pending the counting of thousands of absentee ballots. However, Rep. Steve Knight (R-CA), a member of the House Science Committee with an interest in aeronautics, did formally concede to his Democratic challenger, Katie Hill, on Wednesday. (11/7)

SpaceX Plans Mini-BFR Vehicle to Test as Falcon 9 Upper Stage (Source: Space News)
Elon Musk said Wednesday that SpaceX will modify a Falcon 9 upper stage to test technologies for its Big Falcon Rocket. In a series of tweets, Musk said that an upper stage would be modified into a "mini-BFR Ship" in order to test heat shield and control surfaces systems during re-entry from orbital velocities. That test, he said, would take place by June, but neither he nor SpaceX provided additional details on the test, including whether it would be a one-off experiment. SpaceX has for years talked about making the Falcon 9 upper stage reusable, but has not made any attempts to recover an upper stage to date. (11/7)

Blue Origin Loses Meyerson (Source: GeekWire)
The former president of Blue Origin has left the company. Rob Meyerson said he left the company last Friday and is taking time off "to determine my next steps." Meyerson joined the company as one of its first employees in 2003 and served as president for many years. He moved to the new position of senior vice president for advance development programs early this year after the company hired Bob Smith as CEO. (11/8)

ISS Computer Repaired (Source: TASS)
Russian controllers have repaired a malfunctioning computer on the ISS. The head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, announced early Thursday that the computer, one of three on the Russian segment of the station, had been reset and was now working properly. The computer failed earlier this week and, while not posing an immediate concern to station activities, controllers wanted to repair it before next week's Progress mission to the station. (11/78)

Japan's ISS Cargo Craft Departs ISS (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
A Japanese cargo ship departed from the ISS Wednesday. The spacecraft was unberthed by the station's robotic arm and released around midday Wednesday. The spacecraft will reenter on Saturday, deploying after the deorbit burn an experimental reentry capsule intended to survive the spacecraft's destructive reentry over the South Pacific. (11/8)

ICON Launch Delayed for Pegasus Problems (Source: Florida Today)
A NASA space science spacecraft will likely remain on the ground through the middle of the month because of launch vehicle problems. The launch of the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) spacecraft was scrubbed early Wednesday because of technical issues with the rocket, and the agency didn't make another attempt early Thursday. The Eastern Range is now reserved for other operations, including a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch scheduled for no earlier than Nov. 14. NASA has not announced a new date for the launch and has provided few details about the specific problem that scrubbed the latest launch attempt. (11/7)

Survivor Astronauts May Not Fly on Next Soyuz (Source: Interfax)
The two people on the aborted Soyuz MS-10 mission to the ISS last month may not get a second chance to go to the station any time soon. A Russian space industry source said that Nick Hague and Alexey Ovchinin are not currently on the list of crews scheduled to fly to the station next year. Their mission to the ISS was aborted two minutes after liftoff Oct. 11 when their Soyuz rocket malfunctioned, and Russian officials had suggested shortly after the landing that they would be reassigned to a flight in the near future. (11/78)

New Report Details Security Concerns in Outer Space (Source: Space Daily)
Key findings of a new report point to deteriorating security conditions in outer space in the absence of renewed governance efforts. Space Security Index 2018 tracks developments under 18 indicators related to four aspects of the security of outer space: environmental sustainability, access to and use of space, technologies for space security, and space governance. Click here. (11/7)