February 16, 2019

Georgia County Considers Forming Spaceport Authority (Source: Tribune & Georgian)
Camden County Board of Commissioners has been working for the last five years to establish a commercial spaceport, but is a separate spaceport authority the way of the future? The board took no action on that question during a Tuesday evening work session, but agreed to place it on the Feb. 19 agenda for consideration. “That’s probably the latest we should act so it gets into the legislative hopper,” said Camden County Attorney John Myers.

If approved by commissioners on Feb. 19, the county would then work with state legislators to get the enabling legislation approved by the General Assembly during the current legislative session. Tuesday’s work session featured a presentation by two Savannah attorneys who have helped the board form other authorities in the past, such as the county’s solid waste authority.

The advantage of an authority, said attorney Jonathan Pannell, was the ability to enter into long-term debt without having to first get the permission of voters. This, in turn, makes it easier to enter into years-long contracts, which could become necessary if the county wants to establish the spaceport as a public-private venture or issue revenue bonds to fund capital projects. The attorney also mentioned “liability reasons” and not being encumbered by the “gratuities clause” as further advantages of an authority to govern the spaceport. (2/7)

GPS Has Been in Action for 30 Years and it’s Just Getting Started (Source: Quartz)
The first satellite of the modern US global-positioning system was launched on Feb. 14, 1989. The decision changed the world economy, making space a part of nearly everyone’s daily life. Just as the invention of the marine chronometer helped set the stage for the British Empire’s naval dominance in the 19th century, the space power of GPS underlies America’s post-Cold War hegemony.

The US military began experimenting with the technology in 1978, and approved its use by airlines after the Soviet Union accidentally shot down a straying Korean Air flight in 1983. By 1993, anyone on Earth could use GPS to find out where they are and what time it is. By 2000, the US government decided to stop intentionally degrading the signal out of security fears.

Now, global navigation satellite systems are a requirement for world powers: The US has begun upgrading its GPS system, with the first new third-generation satellite flying late in 2018. Also in December, BeiDou, the Chinese global-positioning system, became fully active. Russia’s own system, GLONASS, came fully online in 2011. And the European Union operates Galileo, which will be completed next year. These systems aren’t necessarily “rivals” to GPS—like the original system, their signals will be freely available to civilians, and many private manufacturers are designing devices to use several of the different systems. (2/14)

Russia Challenges US Defense in Space, Developing Capabilities (Source: Sputnik)
According to the new US intelligence assessment, Iran and North Korea are also developing threatening space-based technologies evidenced by jamming capabilities. Both countries, the report said, maintain independent space launch capabilities that can be used for testing ballistic missile technologies.
Russia is likely pursuing directed energy weapons including lasers that could take out enemy satellites, the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) said in a new assessment entitled "Challenges to Securities in Space".

"Russia likely is pursuing laser weapons to disrupt, degrade, or damage satellites and their sensors", the report said Monday. Prior to July 2018, the report added, Russia began delivering a laser weapon system to the Aerospace Forces that is likely intended for an antisatellite (ASAT) mission. Moreover, the document also claims Russia is developing enhanced on-orbit dual-use technology that can be used to attack and permanently disable satellites. (2/13)

Russia Mulls Delivering Takeoff-Landing System to Moon in 2029 (Source: Sputnik)
Russia is planning to launch the Don super-heavy carrier rocket in 2029 to deliver a takeoff/landing complex to the Moon, a space industry source told Sputnik. "The goal of the mission will be to deliver a takeoff/landing complex to the Moon to test the landing on its surface in order to ensure the future landing of Russian cosmonauts on the Earth's natural satellite", the source said.

According to the source, the prospective Don super-heavy class carrier rocket will be capable of delivering a payload of up to 130 metric tons to a low-Earth orbit, and a payload of up to 32 metric tons to the lunar orbit. Dmitry Rogozin, the Roscosmos chief said last week that the Moon exploration is a highly important task for Russian space corporation, which was set by Russian President Vladimir Putin, stressing that the task will be implemented. (2/15)

NanoRacks Completes Sixth Cubesat Deployment from Cygnus Spacecraft (Source: Space Daily)
NanoRacks has completed the Company's sixth CubeSat deployment mission from Northrop Grumman's Cygnus spacecraft. Cygnus (S.S. John Young) departed the International Space Station on February 8th, 2019 and performed a number of on-orbit activities, including yet another historic NanoRacks deployment.

Cygnus maneuvered to a higher-than-Space Station altitude (445 kilometers) where the NanoRacks External Cygnus Deployment mission released two of the three CubeSats on board into orbit, MySat-1 and the second CHEFSat satellite. The spacecraft then lowered to an altitude of 300 kilometers to deploy KickSat-2.

The deployment of MySat-1 marks an additional historic moment for NanoRacks, being the first payload that NanoRacks has launched and deployed from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). MySat-1 is a joint program from Yahsat, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, and Northrop Grumman, and is the first satellite built at the Yahsat Space Lab in Masdar City, and among the first to be developed by local students. (2/15)

How Climate Will Change in Cities across the U.S. (Source: Scientific American)
If global greenhouse gas emissions don’t decline soon, the climate in Washington, D.C., could more closely resemble that of today’s Greenwood, Miss. Summers may be slightly drier and more than 6 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than they are today. That’s according to a new climate mapping project by researchers at multiple universities. The project is designed to illustrate how U.S. cities will change over the next 60 years and determine which present-day climates serve as the best representations, or “analogs,” for what they will become.

They created a mapping tool that shows the closest climate analogs for cities across the United States, looking anywhere in the Western Hemisphere north of the equator. The comparisons are based on minimum and maximum temperatures and seasonal precipitation in each city. Click here. (2/14)

NASA Moves to Buy More Soyuz Seats for Late 2019, Early 2020 (Source: Ars Technica)
While NASA's commercial crew program continues to demonstrate progress—the first test flight of SpaceX's Crew Dragon may occur as soon as March 2—there are no guarantees the vehicles will be ready for operational flights to the International Space Station by early 2020. NASA's last contracted flight with Russia is for a mission set to launch in July. The Soyuz MS-13 vehicle will carry cosmonaut Aleksandr Skvortsov, NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan, and Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano for a six- or seven-month stay on the International Space Station.

After this, NASA would be at risk of having no more of its people on the orbiting laboratory. The agency's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel warned the agency last year that due to potential delays in the commercial crew program, NASA should look into buying more Soyuz seats from Russia. "Senior NASA leadership should work with the Administration and the Congress to guarantee continuing access to ISS for US crew members until such time that US capability to deliver crew to ISS is established," the safety panel recommended. (2/15)