May 6, 2019

UN Report Details Accelerating Global Environmental Crisis (Source: BBC)
On land, in the seas, in the sky, the devastating impact of humans on nature is laid bare in a compelling UN report. One million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction. Nature everywhere is declining at a speed never previously seen and our need for ever more food and energy are the main drivers. These trends can be halted, the study says, but it will take "transformative change" in every aspect of how humans interact with nature.

From the bees that pollinate our crops, to the forests that hold back flood waters, the report reveals how humans are ravaging the very ecosystems that support their societies. Three years in the making, this global assessment of nature draws on 15,000 reference materials, and has been compiled by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). It runs to 1,800 pages.

The world's population has doubled since 1970, the global economy has grown four-fold, while international trade has increased 10 times over. To feed, clothe and give energy to this burgeoning world, forests have been cleared at astonishing rates, especially in tropical areas. Between 1980 and 2000, 100 million hectares of tropical forest were lost, mainly from cattle ranching in South America and palm oil plantations in South East Asia. Faring worse than forests are wetlands, with only 13% of those present in 1700 still in existence in the year 2000. Our cities have expanded rapidly, with urban areas doubling since 1992.

Relativity Space Hasn't Launched But Keeps Landing Big Contracts (Source: CNN)
Relativity, which is building rockets to launch small satellites, said Monday that a company called Spaceflight is purchasing up to six launches. It marked the company's third major contract announcement in just five weeks. Tim Ellis, Relativity's CEO who co-founded the company just over three years ago, said Relativity is attracting more attention because people are excited about its novel approach to manufacturing. Its rockets will be 3D-printed top to bottom.

"People are really starting to rally around that as the future of rocket technology," Ellis told CNN Business. "3D printing allows us to evolve extremely quickly." Relativity says it will be able to reconfigure its 3D printers to change the design of its rockets and nimbly respond to satellite companies' needs. Over the past year, Relativity has grown from just 14 people to about 85, and it's attracted top brass from leading rocket companies like Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. (Ellis, the co-founder and CEO, previously worked at Blue Origin as an engineer.) (5/6)

Elon Musk’s Billionaire Moon Passenger Says He’s Broke (Source: Quartz)
One of Japan’s richest men, and SpaceX’s first scheduled moon tourist, announced on Twitter yesterday (May 4) he will be selling several of his valuable artworks. When Yusaku Maezawa was asked online if it was because he was broke, he responded, “Yes, I never have any money because I always spend it.” The statement is not likely true. However, his fortunes have indeed seen better days. Over the past year, the CEO of online fashion retailer Zozo lost $700 million, dropping his standing on Forbes’s list of Japan’s Richest from 18th to 22nd. His net worth is reportedly $2 billion.

The paintings he plans to sell now are worth millions, and will include a Warhol. They will be auctioned off by Sotheby’s on May 16 during the Contemporary Art Evening Auction in New York. Maezawa caught the world’s attention last year when he paid an undisclosed sum to travel as a private passenger aboard SpaceX’s first flight around the moon, which is scheduled for 2023. It’s unclear whether that’s refundable. (5/6)

Dragon Cargo Ship Arrives at ISS (Source: Space News)
A Dragon cargo spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station this morning after a launch early Saturday. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 2:48 a.m. Eastern Saturday and placed the Dragon spacecraft into orbit 10 minutes later. The rocket's first stage made a landing on a droneship just offshore, after problems with the droneship delayed the launch a day. NASA said is supported the decision to delay the launch a day since it hoped to use the same booster for launching two more Dragon missions later this year. The Dragon, carrying nearly 2,500 kilograms of cargo, will remain at the station until early June. (5/6)

Senate Nears Ex-Im Bank Board Vote (Source: Space News)
The Senate is expected to vote this week on three nominees for the board of the Ex-Im Bank, which could allow it to start funding space industry deals again. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed cloture motions for the nominations of Kimberly Reed, Spencer Bachus III and Judith DelZoppo Pryor on Thursday. The Senate is scheduled to vote late Monday to invoke cloture, which would trigger votes to confirm their nominations.

If all three are confirmed, it would give the bank a quorum on its five-member board for the first time in several years, allowing it to approve deals larger than $10 million. Aerospace industry officials have long sought the Ex-Im Bank's board be reconstituted, arguing that without a functioning export credit agency, American manufacturers are at a disadvantage to those in other countries, including China. (5/6)

Letter Backs Call for Space Force (Source: Space News)
More than 40 former military and intelligence officials have signed an open letter calling for the creation of a Space Force. The letter says that a Space Force is needed "to sustain America's strategic advantage and pre-eminence in national security space activities." Martin Faga, a former director of the NRO who helped organize the letter, said that the group did the letter on their own accord and not at the request of the White House. They hope the letter helps explain to skeptical members of Congress why a Space Force is necessary. "We're trying to answer the question of 'why,'" Faga said. (5/6)

Indonesia Moves Forward with Satellite Plans (Source: Space News)
The Indonesian government has announced plans for a high-throughput satellite. The government said Friday it selected domestic satellite operator Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN) to develop and operate a satellite called SATRIA, which will provide 150 gigabits per second of capacity using high-throughput Ka-band beams. PSN reportedly selected Thales Alenia Space to build the satellite, although the manufacturer declined to comment on those reports. The project will cost $1.45 billion, including both capital expenditures and 15 years of satellite operations. (5/6)

Maxar Receives Insurance Payout for WorldView-4 Loss (Source: Maxar)
Maxar announced Friday it has received the insurance payout for the failed WorldView-4 satellite. The company said insurers accepted a $183 million claim filed after the spacecraft failed in orbit at the beginning of the year. The company said it will use the funds to invest in "pre-existing capital priorities" that include its WorldView Legion constellation of imaging satellites. (5/6)

Russia’s Secret Satellite Builder (Source: Space Review)
A little-known Russian organization may be playing a key role in the development of military spacecraft and anti-satellite weapons. Bart Hendrickx explains what is known about CNIIHM and its role in Russia’s military space activities. Click here. (5/6)
 
NASA’s Plan for a Human Lunar Landing in 2024 Takes Shape (Source: Space Review)
Ever since Vice President Mike Pence announced in a speech a month and a half ago that NASA was charged with landing humans on the Moon in five years, many have wondered how NASA can do it, and for how much money. Jeff Foust reports that the answers to some, but not all, of those questions are finally appearing. Click here. (5/6)
 
Present at the Creation: Debating Sending Apollo to the Moon (Source: Space Review)
When President Kennedy met with advisors after Yuri Gagarin’s spaceflight, there was another person in the room: journalist Hugh Sidey. Dwayne Day discusses Sidey’s unusual access, and how his accounts of the event changed over time. Click here. (5/6)
 
Going to the Moon Within Five Years and On The Cheap: Yes, it is Possible (Source: Space Review)
NASA’s plans for getting astronauts to the Moon largely involve vehicles like the Space Launch System. Ajay Kothari and Todd Rokita argue that using new reusable launch systems instead can enable a rapid return to the Moon at a much lower cost. Click here. (5/6)

Fake Asteroid Hurtling at New York City Triggers Terrifying Results in NASA Simulation (Source: USA Today)
In a NASA simulation of a fictional scenario, New York City was hit with an asteroid packing 1,000 times the destruction of the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The exercise, which was part of the "National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan" published by the White House, played out at the the 2019 Planetary Defense Conference in College Park, Maryland, last week. It was a worst-case scenario showing what would happen if a giant space rock crashed into Earth in 2027.

Paul Chodas, the NASA engineer who designed the exercise, said the simulated asteroid and its terrifying outcome is "highly unlikely" but he wanted "the issues to be exposed and discussed." In the scenario, an asteroid that originally had a 1 in 10 chance of hitting Earth becomes a threat. The 140-260 meter asteroid had a projected impact over Denver, Colorado. So, the simulation team launched spacecrafts to deflect it.

But a fragment of the asteroid broke off and continued to hurl toward North America. The rock, then 60-meters in size (about 197 feet), was over Manhattan. An asteroid that size is big enough to devastate a city. At the end of the exercise, the only way to save New Yorkers was to evacuate New York City. No known asteroid poses a significant risk of impact with Earth over the next 100 years, according to NASA. (5/6)

China’s iSpace to Make Private Orbital Launch Attempt in Early June (Source: Space News)
Launch firm iSpace in early June will attempt to become the first Chinese private company to place a satellite in orbit, following failed launches by two competitors. Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology Ltd., also known as iSpace, will launch an unnamed payload using a Hyperbola-1 four-stage rocket from the Jiuquan spaceport. iSpace Vice President Huo Jia said the launch vehicle would be transferred to Jiuquan, northwest China, near the end of May in preparation for the mission.

The launch will be the third attempt by a Chinese private launch company to achieve orbit, following launches from LandSpace Technology Corporation and OneSpace Technology Co., Ltd. The first attempt came in October from Landspace, when an issue with the third stage meant a loss of attitude control and the loss of the payload into the Indian Ocean. OneSpace in March suffered a problem with a velocity gyroscope shortly after firing of the second stage. Similar to the previous efforts, the iSpace launch vehicle will be a have three solid stages with a liquid-propellant fourth stage. (5/6)