January 16, 2019

NASA May Decide This Year to Land a Drone on Saturn's Moon Titan (Source: Space.com)
The spacecraft that have peered through the yellowish haze surrounding Saturn's moon Titan discovered a strange, yet strangely familiar world where life could theoretically take root. Now, scientists want to return — this time buoyed by Earth's fascination with drone technology.

That's precisely what a team of scientists working on a proposed mission called Dragonfly want to do: combine terrestrial drone technology and instruments honed by Mars exploration to investigate the complex chemical reactions taking place on Saturn's largest moon. Later this year, NASA will need to decide between that mission and another finalist proposal, which would collect a sample from a comet. (1/16)

How the U.S. Is Quietly Winning the Hypersonic Arms Race (Source: Daily Beast)
In the test, the destroyer USS Dewey fired 20 of the hypervelocity projectiles from its standard, five-inch-diameter gunpowder cannon, officials told the website of the U.S. Naval Institute. The new projectile is more aerodynamic than old-style shells and features tiny fins and a radar guidance system that helps it to hone in on a target at speeds as fast as seven times the speed of sound. That’s roughly three times the velocity a normal naval shell can achieve.

Far-flying and accurate, the shells in theory can target ships, ground targets, aircraft and even incoming missiles. At first glance, the American test might appear to be the least remarkable of the three countries' 2018 hypersonics trials. It didn't involve a new gun or missile, just a new, super-aerodynamic shell. The shell is non-nuclear. The Pentagon didn't formally announce the test or circulate any photos.

But the U.S. test arguably is the most likely to result in the widespread deployment of a truly transformational new weapon. And it underlines the Pentagon's advantage over the Russian and Chinese militaries in the hypersonics race. While Russia, China and the United States all are developing a wide array of new hypersonic weapons, it’s telling which systems each country has prioritized. (1/16)

Satellites are Ending the Age of the Missing Airplane (Source: Quartz)
In 2010, the FAA mandated that all US aircraft would need to use a system called ADS-B, which means “Automatic Dependent Surveillance—Broadcast.” Essentially, by 2020, aircraft are required to broadcast their location, derived from GPS, each second. A network of ground stations across the country collects this information and feeds it to air traffic controllers, who now use it to gain real-time knowledge of where planes are flying. If you’ve used the service FlightAware, you’ve seen ADS-B data.

However, ground receivers need to be within about 172 miles (277 km) of the aircraft to collect ADS-B signals. Out over the ocean, there’s still a knowledge gap between the planes and the air traffic controllers they can’t reach. The solution Thoma had in mind when Aireon was founded in 2011: more satellites.

Specifically, Aireon has installed payloads on 75 Iridium satellites that have been launched over the past two years, with the final installment reaching orbit in a SpaceX rocket on Jan. 11. These payloads are designed to detect ADS-B signals wherever they are broadcast, whether over the open ocean or a mountain range, finally providing continuous tracking of aircraft anywhere on Earth. The satellites are already processing more than 13 billion ADS-B messages each month. (1/12)

NASA Engineers Restoring Hubble Camera Functions (Source: NASA)
A malfunctioning camera on the Hubble Space Telescope is nearly ready to resume operations. NASA said Tuesday that engineers were able to restore operations of the Wide Field Camera 3 after resetting some electronics in the instrument that were reporting erroneous values. The camera is expected to resume normal science operations by the end of the week. The instrument, installed on the telescope nearly a decade ago, was taken offline Jan. 8 after reporting out-of-range voltage levels. (1/16)

Cruz Pledges Another Commercial Space Reform Bill (Source: Space News)
A key senator said he'll make a second effort this year to pass a commercial space regulatory reform bill. The Space Frontier Act passed the Senate last month by unanimous consent but died in the House when it did not get the two-thirds majority needed for passage under suspension of the rules. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who chairs the Senate's space subcommittee, said Tuesday he'll seek to pass the bill again this year, along with a new NASA authorization bill. Either bill will include a provision extending ISS operations to 2030. Cruz said that he hopes space will continue to enjoy bipartisan support in Congress despite the "intense partisan discord" there on other issues. (1/16)

Shutdown Could Bring NASA JPL Furloughs (Source: Space News)
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory may have to start furloughing people in the next few weeks if the partial government shutdown continues. The lab, operated by Caltech for NASA, remains open because its contracts were funded in advance, unlike NASA field centers. However, Caltech President Thomas Rosenbaum said Tuesday that JPL "may have to adjust staffing levels" should the shutdown extend into next month. An extended shutdown could jeopardize progress on missions under development at JPL, like the Mars 2020 rover: "The window for Mars 2020 is not going to wait," said one employee. (1/16)

Arianespace Plans 12 Launches in 2019 (Source: Space News)
Arianespace is planning to carry out at least a dozen launches in 2019, including a record number of Vega missions. The launch services provider has scheduled four Vega launches in 2019, as well as the inaugural flight of the new Vega C rocket. Arianespace expects to carry out three to four Vega launches a year in the future given small satellite demand.

Also on the company's manifest are five Ariane 5 missions and at least three Soyuz launches, including one carrying the first 10 OneWeb satellites. Additional Soyuz launches of OneWeb satellites, from Baikonur rather than French Guiana, could also take place later in the year depending on satellite readiness. (1/16)

China Hopes for International Lunar Cooperation (Source: Space News)
China is emphasizing international cooperation in its future lunar plans. At a press conference earlier this week about the status of the Chang'e-4 lander, officials said they expect to work with Russia's future Luna 26 lunar orbiter mission, which in turn will support future Chinese lander missions. Wu Yanhua, vice administrator of the China National Space Administration, said China and other countries have discussed "whether we need to establish a research station on the moon for 3D printing and for other technologies" that could be enabled by those future Chinese missions, still in their conceptual design stage. (1/16)

The Fall and Rise of Florida's Space Coast (Source: Super Cluster)
As the space shuttle touched down from its final mission in 2011, Gerry Mulberry hoped a rebound was around the corner. ​"This area got hit bad,” said Mulberry, a former shuttle engineer. He said he remembers thinking at the time "you know, maybe over the long run it will turn out ok." ​Mulberry was one of roughly 8,000 NASA and civilian employees laid off in 2011 when NASA ended the shuttle program, the United States' fourth human spaceflight program that employed a significant percentage of Florida's space coast workforce.

“With shuttle, we had the dual whammies. The bad economy kicked in at the same time,” said ​Jim Tully, a 24-year veteran engineer of the shuttle program and mayor of Titusville from 2008 to 2016. Tully was at the helm of the city when a large portion of its 46,000 residents worked on the other side of the Indian River, at Kennedy Space Center.

In the Apollo days they had even more people out there, and when that program ended... there were just an amazing number of layoffs and the housing market just completely collapsed." “You would’ve thought that we would’ve learned our lesson locally from that incident, but we didn’t,” reflected Tully, alluding to when President Richard Nixon ended the Apollo program in 1972 after putting 12 U.S. astronauts on the moon. Click here. (1/8)

SpaceX Gearing Up for Starship Tests at Boca Chica (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
At the southern tip of Texas, SpaceX is preparing to begin testing their interplanetary spacecraft. The first Starship test vehicle, dubbed Starhopper, is in advanced stages of construction, and SpaceX facilities at Boca Chica and McGregor are preparing to support a flight test program beginning this year. SpaceX has suggested both Boca Chica and Cape Canaveral as launch sites for operational, orbital Starship missions that would utilize the Super Heavy booster.

The new South Texas Launch Site was originally intended to be a third launch facility for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy vehicles, in addition to Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. While current plans now focus on the Starship and Super Heavy vehicles, the layout of the launch site appears to be largely unchanged. A building permit reading “operational hopper pad for rocket launches” is posted at the location of the originally proposed launch pad.

After years of minimal changes to the Boca Chica landscape, with SpaceX’s workforce focusing on the Falcon Heavy and Commercial Crew programs, a significant workforce has arrived to begin preparations for Starship. Construction crews have flattened a hill into a causeway, with a ramp at the east end for the pad site. Concrete trucks have most recently been seen at the pad site itself, as well as hardware for pad infrastructure including trusses, pipes, and electrical conduit. The pad will initially support atmospheric “hop” tests of the Starship test vehicle that is under construction nearby. (1/14)

SpaceX Nears Falcon 9 Lunar Rideshare Launch as Main Satellite Arrives in Florida (Source: Teslarati)
SpaceX and customers Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN), SpaceIL, and Spaceflight Industries are reportedly one month away from the NET February 18th launch of Indonesian communications satellite PSN VI (since renamed Nusantara Satu), commercial moon lander Beresheet, and additional unspecified smallsats.

In an encouraging sign that the mission’s launch date might hold, the PSN VI communications satellite – manufactured and delivered by Space Systems Loral (SSL) – arrived at SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral, Florida payload processing facilities in late December 2018 and is likely to be joined by SpaceIL’s Beresheet spacecraft in the next few weeks. (1/15)

UF Collaborates with NASA to Launch Small GPS Satellite (Source: Independent Florida Alligator)
Tyler Ritz doesn’t just want to be an astronaut. He also wants to leave a piece of his work in space. Ritz, a 24-year-old UF aerospace engineering doctoral student, was one of more than two dozen UF students who, over five-and-a-half years, built the smallest satellite able to operate an atomic clock, which uses the most accurate time and frequency standards. The satellite made its way to space on Dec. 16.

“It’s kind of bittersweet,” Ritz said. “You sit there with it 24/7, and it’s weird because that’s the last time anyone would ever get to see this thing because it’s getting launched 500 km in the air.”

Rocket Lab launched the UF-built satellite and 12 other research cube satellites — a small standard-shaped satellite that does one job — as part of NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellites, an initiative that was created to attract and retain students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, Ritz said. The UF satellite will work to provide more accurate location and timing for GPS services. (1/14)

The Small Ways NASA Still Cooperates with China’s Space Program, Despite a Ban (Source: Quartz)
The US banned the space agency from working with China and its state-owned companies out of concerns regarding national security and technology transfers. As a result, China was locked out of the International Space Station because NASA is one of the participating bodies. More recently, scientists from other countries such as Germany and Sweden who were helping China with its exploration of the far side of the Moon were cautious of not falling afoul of US export controls on sensitive technology.

China’s space agency, however, announced that the two countries had shared data on its exploration of the far side of the Moon. “Cooperation is the joint will of scientists,” said Wu Yanhua, deputy director of China’s National Space Agency in a press conference yesterday (Jan. 14). He also noted that both organizations have met “frequently.”

According to Wu, NASA had proposed to use its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which orbits the Moon, to observe the landing of the Chang’e-4 spacecraft on the lunar far side. Wu said that China had told NASA the exact landing time and position of the spacecraft, but the LRO wasn’t in the right position to do so as it wasn’t able to adjust its orbit with what little fuel it had left. Before the touchdown on Jan. 3, the LRO managed to capture pictures of the landing site. (1/15)

The 4 Things That Could Hobble the Commercial Space Revolution (Source: Popular Mechanics)
The private space industry will have a lot to celebrate in 2019. Virgin Galactic will launch its suborbital space tourism business. NASA astronauts will again fly to the International Space Station from U.S. soil, and on hardware owned by private companies. Small satellites will enjoy their own dedicated launches, no longer relegated to being secondary payloads on expensive flights. And NASA has begun to turn to the private sector for its lunar plans.

Yet the Grateful Dead said it best: When life seems like easy street, there is danger at your door. It’s a melodic warning to be on guard, one that is particularly appropriate to the commercial space industry as it roars into an epic 2019. Not content to be optimistic, Popular Mechanics reached out to some experts to find what headwinds the private space revolution might face this year. Click here. (1/15)

This Russian Start-Up Wants to Put Billboards in Space. Astronomers Aren’t Pleased (Source: Discover)
Imagine this: you’ve just fled from the city to your nearest national park to gaze deeply into the infinite abyss of space and contemplate how your own existence fits into the curtain of the universe. Then, out of the corner of your eye, you see bright white letters spelling “KFC” spring across the horizon in a long arc. A few minutes later, it’s gone.

That’s the idea behind Orbital Display, a Russian startup’s effort to bring billboard advertisements to low-earth orbit using a grid of tissue box-sized satellites called “CubeSats.” Orbiting approximately 280 miles above ground, these tiny satellites will unfurl Mylar sails some 30 feet in diameter to catch and reflect sunlight, creating a pixelated matrix. The company, StartRocket, has proposed using this tech to display a knockoff of the Coca-Cola logo and other brand emblems, as well as allow governments to flash urgent notifications during emergencies. (1/14)

UAE Space Investments Exceed AED 22 Billion (Source: The National)
The UAE Space Agency (UAESA) has reportedly launched a National Plan for the Promotion of Space Investment aiming to increase domestic and foreign investment in the UAE space sector. The initiative promises to transform the nation into a regional hub for commercial space activities and advanced research and development.

It also aims to encourage local investment vehicles to consider funding opportunities in the space sector, both domestically and globally. The strategy also contributes to the UAE’s Science, Technology & Innovation Policy, as well as the UAE Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It envisions a competitive national economy based on knowledge, innovation, and future technological applications that integrate the latest physical and digital technologies, while also encouraging small and medium enterprises.

The investment plan is based on the National Space Policy issued in 2016, which called for a comprehensive approach to attracting and promoting investment in the space industry, encouraging and facilitating commercial space activity, and establishing the UAE as a major regional and global hub for space activities and advanced research and development. (1/15)

Russia to Complete Military Satellite Constellation Blagovest in April (Source: Sputnik)
The launch of the fourth and last military communications satellite of Russia’s Blagovest constellation is tentatively planned for April, a source in the space industry told Sputnik. The communications satellites will be spread out evenly to provide seamless global coverage. They are equipped with modern Ka and Q-band transponders and support high-speed Internet, telephony and other broadcasting services.

The Russian Defense Ministry has successfully deployed three satellites to the geostationary orbit since 2017. The system is expected to operate for 15 years. "The satellite will be delivered to the Baikonur space port in late February and will be ready for launch atop a Proton-M rocket in the first half of April," the source said. (1/16)

Macron's 'Space Force' Coming? (Source: Sputnik)
The development of space industry has become France's priority, CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall said, commenting on the government's effort to increase investment in the sector. However, the agency has not received any specific orders regarding the formation of full-fledged "space forces" so far, he said. The National Center for Space Studies (CNES), the French government space agency, is waiting for French President Emmanuel Macron to make strategic decision on forming the country's "space force", said Jean-Yves Le Gall, emphasising that CNES has long been involved in the development of military satellites. (1/15)

UCF's Steam-Powered Spaceship Could Cruise the Cosmos Indefinitely Without Running Out of Gas (Source: NBC)
Come one, come all and behold the future of space travel: steam power! No, seriously; half a century after the world's first manned space mission, it seems that interplanetary travel has finally entered the steam age. Scientists at UCF in Florida have teamed up with Honeybee Robotics, a private space and mining tech company based in California, to develop a small, steam-powered spacecraft capable of sucking its fuel right out of the asteroids, planets and moons it's exploring.

By continuously turning extraterrestrial water into steam, this microwave-sized lander could, theoretically, power itself on an indefinite number of planet-hopping missions across the galaxy — so long as it always lands somewhere with H20 for the taking. "We could potentially use this technology to hop on the moon, Ceres, Europa, Titan, Pluto, the poles of Mercury, asteroids — anywhere there is water and sufficiently low gravity," Phil Metzger, a UCF space scientist and one of the chief minds behind the steampunk starship, said. Metzger added that such a self-sufficient spacecraft could explore the cosmos "forever." (1/15)

In 2019 Let’s Address the ‘Real Problems’ in National Security Space (Source: Space News)
For all of the talk about the establishment of a Space Force, much remains unclear and uncertain. The Trump administration continues to drive towards an end goal in which a Space Force in some form or fashion is established. What that entity looks like, does or fixes by its creation has yet to be answered. Indeed, The Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), which was tasked with developing a plan for the establishment of a Space Force warned in an unclassified executive summary that “we cannot definitively know before it is implemented that any design will produce the expected benefits.”

The most concerning issue in this Space Force discussion is that it doesn’t actually seem to be about space. The U.S. government is about to spend — and will spend — an enormous amount of energy and taxpayer dollars on the wrong issues: What do we do about China’s new killer satellite? Sorry, we’re too busy designing new logos. SpaceX’s future mega constellation seems to offer greater capabilities for our soldiers and Marines in the field. Maybe, but we really need to get these uniforms right. Russia’s satellites seem to be getting really close to ours, shouldn’t we do something? Probably, but we need to get the bases sorted out first. (1/13)

Shutdown Impacting NASA SLS Program (Source: Politico)
The government shutdown is impacting NASA's Space Launch System (SLS). Qualification testing on the SLS’s intertank and hydrogen tank has stopped at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. “The intertank was undergoing testing when the government shut down, so that’s been interrupted,” according to John Shannon, the SLS program manager at Boeing. It also means testing can’t even begin on the hydrogen tank, which arrived at Marshall last week. The testing to ensure rocket components can withstand harsh launch conditions has already been completed for the engine.

The furlough also means NASA and Boeing employees have halted modifications to the stand at Stennis Space Center, Miss., that will hold the rocket during a test-fire of all four engines. “That test stand is owned by NASA,” said Shannon, who worked for space agency for 25 years before joining Boeing in 2015. “[So] that work has come to a halt during the shutdown.” Boeing thinks it will be able to catch up and deliver the first completed rocket to NASA as planned in the late fall. (1/14)