November 9, 2018

Air Force Tests a Minuteman III Missile with Vandenberg Launch (Source: Ars Technica)
The weapon, with a mock warhead, blasted out of its underground silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base at 11:01pm Tuesday. For the test, the military sought to track the mock re-entry vehicle as it traveled to a predetermined target site. "Though the reentry vehicle reached its intended target, the test and analysis data is not releasable to the public," Joe Thomas, a spokesman for Louisiana-based Global Strike Command, told Noozhawk.

The military would provide no further details of the test. The Air Force conducts about four Minuteman III missile tests annually from Vandenberg to gather information about the weapon system’s accuracy and reliability. The last test, on July 31, ended prematurely with Vandenberg personnel sending a self-destruct command due to some unspecific anomaly spotted during the flight. (11/9)

Azores Spaceport Idea Draws Interest from Launchers (Source: Ars Technica)
A proposed Azores spaceport appears to be popular. A spaceport concept in the southernmost-island in the Azores, Santa Maria, received 14 formal proposals from international space consortiums, the Portuguese news site Expresso reports. Contracts for development of the site may be let in 2019, with the first launch tentatively scheduled for 2021. Among those reportedly interested are industry heavyweights such as ArianeGroup and Roscosmos, as well as some emerging US commercial space companies like Sierra Nevada and Virgin Orbit. The Portuguese government had only expected four respondents. (11/9)

Space Command to Oversee Purchase of DOD Satellite Services (Source: Space News)
The Air Force Space Command is taking over the responsibility of buying satellite communications services for the Pentagon, per congressional order. "Our team is looking forward to an unprecedented window of opportunity to transform how we acquire commercial satcom," says Clare Grason, division chief for satellite communications at the Defense Information Systems Agency, who will begin reporting to the Air Force in late December. (11/8)

NASA Certifies SpaceX Falcon 9 for High Value Science Mission (Source: Space News)
NASA has certified SpaceX's Falcon 9 to launch the agency's most valuable science missions. SpaceX said Thursday it received the Category 3 certification from NASA's Launch Services Program, which makes the Falcon 9 available to launch high-value science missions, from flagship-class missions down to planetary science missions in the Discovery program. SpaceX had previously launched lower-priority science missions on the Falcon 9 that did not require Category 3 certification, and its commercial cargo and crew missions are handled separately. (11/9)

Canadian Military Seeks MUOS Access (Source: Space News)
The Canadian military is seeking to become part of the U.S. military's MUOS satellite system. Col. Cameron Stoltz, director general of space for the Canadian Armed Forces, said Thursday that Canada is seeking to become a partner in MUOS, paying "hundreds of millions of dollars" for assured access to the system. MUOS, the Mobile User Objective System, features five satellites to provide mobile communications services worldwide. Canada is already a partner on two other military communications systems, the Wideband Global Satcom and Advanced Extremely High Frequency constellations. (11/9)

Spaceflight Arranges Launch of 12 Satellites Aboard India's PSLV C43 (Source: Space Daily)
Spaceflight, the leading satellite rideshare and mission management provider, reports it will launch 12 spacecraft in November from India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). Payloads aboard the mission include Fleet Space Technologies' Centauri I, Harris Corporation's HSAT, Spire's LEMUR satellites, and BlackSky's Global-1 microsatellite. (11/9)

India Plans Venus Mission, Seeks Partners (Source: Hindustan Times)
India is seeking partners for a Venus mission under devleopment. The Indian space agency ISRO said it is working on a Venus orbiter mission it expects to launch in 2023 that will carry a dozen instruments. ISRO released an announcement of opportunity this week for the mission, soliciting proposals from space agencies and other organizations outside India for instruments that could be included on the spacecraft. (11/9)

China Shows Off Space Hardware (Source: GB Times)
A variety of space hardware was on display at a Chinese airshow. Exhibits at the Zhuhai Airshow in southern China this week included a full-size model of the core module of China's space station, as well as a model of the Chang'e-4 lunar lander set to attempt the first landing on the far side of the moon next month. A variety of launch vehicles were also on display, from the planned Long March 9 heavy-lift rocket to Smart Dragon 1, a vehicle capable of placing 150 kilograms into orbit. (11/9)

NASA Looks to University Researchers for Innovative Space Tech Solutions (Source: Space Daily)
University-led research could transform the future of space exploration, from small spacecraft to "smart" systems for the Moon, Mars and beyond. NASA has selected 14 proposals for the study of innovative, early stage technologies that address high-priority needs of America's space program. The universities will work on their proposed research and development projects for up to three years and will receive as much as $500,000 each in Early Stage Innovations grant funding from NASA's Space Technology Research Grants program. Click here. (11/9)

Northrop Grumman Eyes Synergy Between OmegA and SLS Solid Rocket Boosters (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
With an Air Force development contract secured for the OmegA rocket, Northrop Grumman has provided an update on their primarily solid rocket fueled medium- and heavy-lift rocket that is expected to begin a four flight test program from the LC-39B at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport in 2021. Northrop Grumman received $792 million in Air Force funding to continue development of their OmegA launcher family – though a vast majority of the groundwork was first funded by Orbital ATK.

With the Air Force contract secured and funding for Phase 1 of the contract guaranteed, work will soon begin in earnest at the Kennedy Space Center on needed infrastructure, stacking, and launch hardware builds and needs. As of August 2018, former Space Shuttle MLP (Mobile Launch Platform) #2 had been driven into VAB in preparation for its reconfiguration efforts for OmegA. Northrop will contract significant modifications to MLP-2 to account for the different thrust and blast profiles the platform will experience during an OmegA liftoff.

The new tower will also contain all of the fueling lines and systems for OmegA’s cryogenic third stage as well as the necessary height differentials (the Heavy variant is significantly taller than the Intermediate) for those systems to serve both the Intermediate and Heavy configurations, which will both launch from the same MLP and be serviced from the same OmegA tower. High Bay #2 of the VAB will also require reconfigurations to allow workers access to the OmegA tower and rocket during stacking operations. (11/5)

House Science Committee May Soon Become Pro-Science (Source: WIRED)
For the past eight years, climate science has been under a sort of spell in the House of Representatives. Instead of trying to understand it better or even acknowledging some of the field’s current uncertainties, House Science Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) used his position to harass federal climate scientists with subpoenas while holding hearings on “Making the EPA Great Again” or whether “global warming theories are alarmist” and researchers are pursuing a “personal agenda.”

But Smith retired this year and Democrats won control of the House on Tuesday. Now some on Capitol Hill say that the anti-climate science spell may be broken. “Hopefully we will no longer see the science committee used as a messaging tool for the fossil fuel industry,” says Rep. Bill Foster, an Illinois Democrat and science committee member.

Foster, who was a particle physicist before being elected to Congress in 2008, said he also wants to see more appearances from cabinet members like Energy Secretary Rick Perry or EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to explain both their budget and their rulemaking on environmental and science issues. Neither agency head was called before Smith’s committee during his tenure, Foster says. (11/7)

The Space Launch Legend Who's Backing a Startup (Source: Popular Mechanics)
Jim Cantrell, a quiet force behind the new U.S. space industry, is on the verge of an orbital launch with his small satellite launch company, Vector. Here he delves into the past and future of the space industry, as only a veteran who has Forest Gump-ed his way through aerospace history can do.

During a four-decade career as a mechanical engineer and entrepreneur, Cantrell has been there for the founding of SpaceX, designed the Planetary Society’s LightSail solar sail program, and formed the Moon Express lunar landing company that competed in the Lunar X Prize and recently received a venture cash infusion to finish building its lunar lander. Now the venerable engineer is the man behind Vector, a startup growing into a major player in the boom business of launching small satellites. Click here. (11/8)

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