July 11, 2019

NASA Still Could Be Liable for Space Station Operations After Transferring to Commercial Companies (Source: Houston Chronicle
NASA still could be held liable for what happens on the International Space Station even after transferring operations to commercial companies, a space law expert said Wednesday. NASA has been toying with the idea of ending federal operations -- and therefore, funding -- on the International Space Station for several years. In theory, commercial companies would take over, allowing the U.S. to funnel the more money toward other human exploration endeavors.

But Joanne Irene Gabrynowicz, professor emerita of space law at the University of Mississippi, says that two international treaties would make such a transition trickier than simply handing over the keys and walking away. The International Space Station Intergovernmental Agreement, says that "the transfer of ownership shall not effect rights and obligations of parties."

American officials could try to renegotiate this agreement with the more than a dozen partners on the orbiting laboratory, Gabrynowicz told members of U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics on Wednesday. But even if a new agreement could be reached, she said the U.S. would need to tackle the limitations of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which requires the signing parties to use space for peaceful purposes only. (7/10)

PlanetiQ Rallies $18.7 Million in Series B Funding (Source: PE Hub)
PlanetiQ, a satellite-based weather forecasting and analytics company, has completed an $18.7 million Series B round of financing. The investment brings PlanetiQ's total funding to $23.9 million and will be used to accelerate the launch of its high-definition radio occultation (HDRO) satellite. (7/10)

Akash Raises $14.5 Million for Satellite Components (Source: Space News)
Satellite equipment company Akash Systems has raised $14.5 million to support development of "thermally efficient" components. The company said $10 million of the new funds came from a group of investors, with the other $4.5 million from bank notes converted from debt into equity. Akash Systems builds amplifiers and radios that feature diamond-infused gallium nitride chips that absorb heat inside a satellite, allowing spacecraft to operate more efficiently. The company hopes to see its technology demonstrated in space for the first time early next year on an unidentified satellite. (7/11)

A Little Early for Virgin Galactic's Financial Projections, Says Expert (Source: CNBC)
Loren Grush, senior science reporter at The Verge, joins CNBC's "Closing Bell" to discuss Virgin Galactic. Click here. (7/10)

Falcon Eye 1 Spacecraft Lost in Vega Launch Mishap (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
It appears a European Space Agency (ESA) rocket has encountered a failure which has resulted in the loss of the Falcon Eye 1 satellite that it had been tasked with sending to orbit. A European Space Agency Vega rocket was scheduled to launch a low-Earth orbit observation satellite at 0153 GMT on July 11, 2019. Preliminary reports have indicated the launch vehicle encountered an anomaly shortly after liftoff. We will keep you updated as details continue to unfold. (7/10)

Major Shakeup at NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate has undergone a significant change in leadership, according to Space Policy Online. The changes involved two key personnel either being replaced or relieved. William Gerstenmaier has been ousted as the Managing Director of Human Exploration and Operations after holding the position since 2005. Previously, he served as Manager of the International Space Station program, Shuttle/Mir Program Operations Manager, and as manager of Space Shuttle Program Integration.

Five-time Shuttle astronaut and Expedition 6 commander Ken Bowersox has been appointed as acting director of Human Exploration and Operations. In a similar series of events, Bill Hill, Assistant Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Development, has been relieved of his position. Hill previously served as Assistant Associate Administrator for Space Shuttle in the Space Operations Mission Directorate and directed the response to the Space Shuttle Columbia accident (STS-107) as well as the recovery of the vehicle and the crew’s remains. (7/10)

Space View Park Volunteer Provides a Personal Touch to Rocket Launch Experience (Source: ClickOrlando.com)
There are plenty of spots along Florida's Space Coast to watch a launch but perhaps one of the most unique is Space View Park in Titusville. The park is located less than 15 miles directly across the Indian River from the launch pads at Kennedy Space Center. The view and proximity are certainly a draw but so is the resident volunteer who gives each launch a personal touch.

For the most recent SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch, Ozzie Osband arrives early to set up his computer, speaker and enough water and snacks to get him through two or three delays. "I'm a space cadet," Osband said as he settled into his folding chair prominently located in the center of a small ampatheater designed for perfect launch viewing. "I just like to watch things go up." Editor's Note: Ozzie is also personally responsible for having the Space Coast's area code changed to 321. (7/11)

Start Up Rocket Crafters Building Hybrid-Fuel Rockets Near Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Florida Today)
Click here for a video describing Cocoa-based Rocket Crafters and their efforts to develop a novel hybrid-fuel rocket engine. The company plans to conduct a suborbital test launch later this year. (7/11)

Bursting the Space Bubble Before it Even Inflates (Source: Space News)
One of the central beliefs of advocates of the growing commercial space industry is the concept of the trillion-dollar space economy. They argue that, with current growth and the development of new markets, space will generate at least $1 trillion in annual revenue by 2040, estimates backed up by studies from major Wall Street financial firms.

“We truly believe that today’s $400 billion global space economy will quickly grow to $1 trillion, and perhaps to $3 trillion, by 2040,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on June 4. But what if those numbers — both the current and future size of the space economy — are way too high? Bhavya Lal of the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) led a group that examined estimates of the current side of the space economy published by organizations such as the Satellite Industry Association and the Space Foundation. Those estimates have put the size of the space economy at between $360 billion and $384 billion in 2018.

By STPI’s estimate, removing the double-counting and unrelated revenues can cut the estimated size of the space economy in half. Even if you accept the higher figures, though, there’s the problem of growing the economy to a trillion dollars or more in two decades. Those future estimates require annual growth rates of five to 11 percent, she noted. “They don’t seem consistent with some of the trends that we are seeing,” she said. The SIA study saw growth of only 3 percent for the satellite industry overall in 2018. Yet Wall Street analyses project satellite broadband will grow from $2.5 billion in annual revenue to $300 billion by 2040. (7/9)

Apollo 11 Moon Mission Drew Space-Related Companies to Central Florida (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
It was up to NASA and the companies working with them to build launch vehicles, spacecraft and other hardware that would work together to ferry astronauts to the moon. To do that, several companies either opened or expanded operations in Central Florida. So the moon mission brought companies such as Martin Marietta, Grumman and Lockheed into the forefront of the region’s economy.

“It introduced Central Florida into the national economy in a way that it had never been before,” said UCF political science professor Roger Handberg. “The space industry totally changed the dynamics here because there was nothing here. It was all orange groves.” Once Space Coast-related activity grew, it created the need for a highway that connected Orlando to the coast, with the introduction of what’s known now as the BeachLine Expressway changing how Central Florida motorists got around.

“You just didn’t increase the total population by 24,000 and not affect things from an economic standpoint,” Mars said. “They worked at Kennedy, they represented some 20 companies and supported the programs. I can’t think of one industry that didn’t benefit from those people coming here.” In college, Mars worked with Martin Marietta during Project Mercury, the first human spaceflight program for the U.S. He later became a liaison for NASA with Northrop Grumman as it worked on the lunar lander. (7/9)

From Jeff Bezos to Today’s NASA Engineers, Apollo 11 Inspired a Generation to Go to Space (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
David McFarland was just shy of his 14th birthday when on July 20, 1969, he sat in front of the family television and joined 650 million other enthralled viewers as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the moon. Kelly DeFazio put crayon to paper to sketch pictures of the Saturn V rocket launching off from Cape Kennedy. Dan Quinn watched thousands of fans gather along the Indian River in Brevard County to watch historic Apollo program rocket launches.

Florida’s growing space industry is now, in large part, led by the young people that watched the Apollo 11 astronauts in awe, from the rank-and-file workers putting satellites into space to billionaires plotting ambitious trips beyond the pull of Earth’s gravity. “People, especially young people, wanted to be a part of it,” said Robert Taylor, a history professor at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne. “They wanted to have the same kind of trajectory the astronauts they were watching on television did." (7/11)

Japanese Spacecraft Grabs Second Sample from Asteroid Ryugu (Source: Space.com)
It looks like Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft has snagged its second souvenir from asteroid Ryugu, marking one of the last major milestones of the probe's visit. Today's (July 10) maneuver was a calculated risk, as mission staff sought to weigh the scientific value of a subsurface sample with the possibility that failure would jeopardize the sample that the team believes is on board the spacecraft. Now, Hayabusa2 has just one more rover to deploy on the space rock before it departs at the end of the year. (7/11)

NASA is Building Robots That Can Climb Mars, Including an 'Ice Worm' (Source: Fox News)
NASA is no stranger to building robots, having created ones that are currently exploring Mars, traveling to the International Space Station and ones that look like inflatable "aliens." But now the space agency is working on robots that are capable of doing more than just drive and explore — these robots can climb.

Known as LEMUR (Limbed Excursion Mechanical Utility Robot) and built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., this four-limbed robot is able to scale walls made of rock, utilizing fishhooks in its 16 fingers and artificial intelligence. In a blog post, JPL said that in its latest field test, LEMUR was able to climb up a cliff "while scanning the rock for ancient fossils from the sea that once filled the area." (7/11)

Booz Allen Hamilton Expands in Colorado (Source: Space News)
Booz Allen Hamilton says it sees growth opportunities in military space programs. The company is expanding its presence in Colorado Springs, home of the Air Force Space Command, and hired retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan as senior vice president to lead the expansion. Bogdan said in an interview that the company is targeting the ground-based portion of military space systems, including ground control stations, data analytics and cybersecurity. (7/11)

Virgin Orbit Drops LauncherOne Rocket, On Purpose (Source: Space News)
Virgin Orbit performed a successful drop test of its LauncherOne rocket Wednesday. A full-sized but inert version of the rocket was released from the company's Boeing 747 carrier aircraft to test the dynamics of the release process. The rocket fell to the ground at Edwards Air Force Base in California, as planned. The company said the test was a success and wraps up the flight test program for the aircraft. Virgin Orbit plans to perform the first orbital launch of the air-launched LauncherOne rocket later this year. (7/11)

Russia Launches Military Satellites (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
Russia carried out a previously unannounced Soyuz launch of four military satellites Wednesday. The Soyuz-2.1v rocket, a version of the Soyuz rocket without any strap-on boosters, lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at 1:14 p.m. Eastern. Russia didn't announce the launch in advance, and didn't disclose the purpose of the four satellites placed into sun-synchronous orbits. (7/11)

Air Force Plans 'Pitch Day' for Space Tech (Source: C4ISRnet)
The Air Force wants to bypass the traditional lengthy contract award period, so it’s holding a number of pitch days including one devoted to space. Made popular by shows like Shark Tank, pitch competitions have become widely adopted in the commercial sector. In a typical event, dozens of individuals and businesses will share proposals with a group of judges who will then allot funding as they see fit. Using this model, the Air Force is getting around the months that can pass between a proposal submission and the eventual awarding of money.

In a matter of hours the Air Force will hear proposals from a number of companies, and some successful participants can be awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research contracts within just minutes of pitching their ideas. The Air Force is holding a dozen of these pitch days this year, seeking partners in areas such as space, hypersonics or intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems. Space Pitch Day is slated for Nov. 6 in San Francisco, and will see 20 to 30 companies present their proposals. Specifically, the Air Force is looking for ideas related to launch systems, data mining, space visualization and space communications. (6/24)

Does Virgin Galactic Have Legs? (Source: Quartz)
At a lunch with investors in New York City, I’m told Branson and Palihapitiya made an analogy not to SpaceX, but to Tesla, Elon Musk’s electric car company. Tesla stock has been a darling of tech-obsessives and bête noir of the short-selling community. As even Musk himself has noted, Tesla does not typically trade on the fundamentals. Neither will Virgin Galactic, at least in the short term. It’s a sentiment play for investors excited about the future of space.

But any comparison with Tesla should reckon with what happens when the hype runs out. Tesla changed the way society thinks about electric vehicles, and now major auto companies are queuing up to run it out of business. Virgin Galactic may change the way we think about space tourism, but Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are preparing their own offerings with far more capital behind them.

It’s downright impressive that Branson has financed Virgin Galactic for 15 years, and that its technologists and test pilots have actually built a reusable space tourism vehicle. With private funds running out, this new financing presents a big opportunity to fish or cut bait: This is either a sustainable business or not. But investors in other space ventures will be watching closely to see what the market reaction augurs for their own aspirations. (7/11)

Texas Congressman Hopes to Save JSC Jobs as NASA Commercializes ISS (Source: Quartz)
“When we partner with industry, how do we ensure that we don’t take jobs away from our NASA facilities?,” Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX) asked. “It’s critical that we ensure [in] the commercialization of ISS ... where integration, operations and other activities are still done [by NASA]"  NASA is not going to save money by maintaining all existing government jobs and adding private companies to the mix. The “commercialization” of the space shuttle and ISS were mainly delivered via uncompetitive contracts with guaranteed profits that didn’t save the government much money.

Boeing’s effort to build a new space vehicle for NASA subcontracted its flight control operations back to JSC. Boeing’s bid for the job was $1.6 billion higher than their rival SpaceX, which does its flight control in-house. In Florida, the community around KSC learned this the hard way when the space shuttle program came to an end in 2011 after being judged too costly and unreliable. The local economy cratered. Leadership at the KSC decided to lean into commercial partnerships, and now it is the country’s leading spaceport. Companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and One Web have invested in large new facilities and hired local workers.

It’s easy to see why Texas lawmakers (nearly all Republicans) are fighting to protect their voters’ government jobs working on ISS. But they may be learning the wrong lesson from KSC. The ISS is quite expensive, and the current administration keeps trying to shut it down by 2024. A future administration may have the clout to actually make that happen; regardless, the ISS will probably be over by the end of the next decade. Will there be a thriving community of commercial space start-ups in Houston to pick up the slack? Or will there just be tumbleweeds? (7/11)

Falcon Versus Pegasus (Source: Quartz)
Falcon vs. Pegasus. SpaceX picked up a contract to launch a NASA space mission this week. It’s pretty routine news, except for the footnote that it will cost just over $50 million thanks to a reusable rocket booster. SpaceX was able to beat the alternative, an air-launched rocket called Pegasus that cost $56 million the last time NASA used it. Another signal to the rocket community that price matters—and a reminder that the erstwhile Stratolaunch’s plan to use Pegasus rockets never made business sense. (7/11)

The Moon Now Has Hundreds of Artifacts. Should They Be Protected? (Source: Space Daily)
Three rovers, six US flags, dozens of probes that either landed successfully or crashed, tools, cameras and trash: the Moon is dotted with hundreds of objects as a result of space exploration. Some experts are calling to grant them heritage status to protect them from future tourists and human activity. It all started on September 13, 1959 when Soviet probe Luna 2 smashed into Mare Imbrium, its 390 kilograms (859 pounds) of mass vaporizing, no doubt, on impact.

It was followed in succession by more Luna probes, then it was the Americans' turn with the Ranger and Surveyor programs. And then, on July 20, 1969, the first humans, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. All told, the Moon has about a hundred sites where people have left their mark, according to For All Moonkind, a non-profit that seeks to preserve human heritage in space. That's about 167 tonnes of material. Legally, "the sites themselves aren't protected at all," said Michelle Hanlon, a law professor who co-founded For All Moonkind in 2017 after the head of the European Space Agency Jan Worner joked that he wanted to bring back the American flag. (7/11)