July 3, 2019

NASA: Orion Test Keeps Artemis on Track for 2024 Human Lunar Mission (Source: Space News)
NASA says the Orion program is on track to support the goal of returning humans to the Moon by 2024 after Tuesday's ascent abort test. Program officials said the test early Tuesday was a success, and that early reviews of the data showed that the launch abort system performed as expected. Prior to the test, the program manager for Orion said that he believed the program would be ready to send astronauts to the Moon in 2024, with hardware for three separate spacecraft in various stages of production. However, testing of the Orion for the Artemis-1 mission has slipped from a schedule NASA provided a little more than a month ago by about a month. (7/3)

NASA Eyes GPS at the Moon for Artemis Missions (Source: Space Daily)
GPS could be used to pilot in and around lunar orbit during future Artemis missions. A team at NASA is developing a special receiver that would be able to pick up location signals provided by the 24 to 32 operational GPS satellites. Such a capability could soon also provide navigational solutions to astronauts and ground controllers operating the Orion spacecraft, the Gateway in orbit around the Moon, and lunar surface missions.

Instead of navigating streets on Earth, a spacecraft equipped with an advanced GPS receiver may soon be paired with precise mapping data to help astronauts track their locations in the vast ocean of space between the shores of Earth and the Moon, or across the craterous lunar surface. Navigation services near the Moon have historically been provided by NASA's communications networks. The GPS network, which has more satellites and can better accommodate additional users, could help ease the load on NASA's networks, thereby freeing up that bandwidth for other data transmission. (7/1)

A Reality Check on NASA’s Artemis Moon Landing Program, and Gateway (Source: Ars Technica)
A little more than three months have passed since Vice President Mike Pence directed NASA to move up its plans to land humans on the Moon from 2028 to 2024, and a lot has happened. Here, then, is a reality check on the state of the 2024 Moon landing program—now named "Artemis," after the twin sister of Apollo. This report is based on interviews with multiple sources inside and outside NASA.

The White House Office of Management and Budget, which is typically loathe to initiate large new space programs, has pushed back against the Gateway. The budgeting office argues that a Gateway is not technically needed to stage a landing mission from lunar orbit. Depending on their designs, some lunar landers could be pre-placed in an orbit for rendezvous even without the Gateway.

"OMB is definitely trying to kill Gateway," a senior spaceflight source told Ars. "OMB looks at what the Vice President said about getting to the Moon by 2024, and says you could do it cheaper if you didn’t have Gateway, and probably faster. They are fighting tooth and nail to nix the Gateway." Click here. (7/3)

C-Band Spectrum Could Expand 5G (Source: Space News)
A rival proposal for repurposing C-band satellite spectrum would double the amount of spectrum transferred to 5G operators. The plan by Charter Communications and two telecom trade organizations, filed with the FCC July 1, would transfer 370 megahertz of C-band spectrum for 5G services, leaving just 130 megahertz for satellite services. Charter and its partners say their approach is feasible because it shifts the vast majority of satellite-enabled C-band television broadcasts in the U.S. over to fiber, paid for by proceeds from an auction of that spectrum. By contrast, the C-Band Alliance, comprised of fleet operators Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat and Telesat, has proposed a private auction it would run for 200 megahertz of spectrum, using proceeds to pay for new satellites to replace existing C-band satellites. The C-Band Alliance dismissed the new proposal as unrealistic. (7/3)

ESA ExoMars Parachute Test Suffers Glitch (Source: Space News)
ESA suffered a setback in the development of its ExoMars 2020 mission when parachutes were damaged in a recent test. The agency said that during a high-altitude test of the parachute system for the lander in late May, the two main parachutes were torn in several places, although they still achieved "a good level of the expected aerodynamic drag." Engineers will investigate the cause of the tears and plan to reinforce the parachutes before additional tests planned for later this year. ExoMars 2020 is scheduled for launch next July, landing a rover on Mars the following March. (7/3)

Camden County a Step Closer to Becoming Commercial Spaceport (Source: News4GA)
A 180-day review process of the Spaceport Camden Launch Site will begin after the FAA said its initial review of the operator license application was completed. Spaceport Camden aims to develop a spaceport that will establish Camden County, Georgia, as the Commercial Space Center of the U.S. “We are now at T minus 1,” said Steve Howard, the Spaceport Camden Project lead and a Camden County administrator. “A final decision by the FAA is the only outstanding item."

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said he’s been behind the project from the get-go and that he’s excited for the possibilities it brings to Georgia. The site of Spaceport Camden was used in the 1960s to test solid fuel rockets for NASA and was proposed as an alternative launch site for Apollo missions. Howard said Camden County is one step away from its licensing decision and one giant leap closer to becoming the first purely commercial spaceport on the East Coast.

Editor's Note: This FAA licensing action is an iterative process. With a 180-day limit for official action by the FAA, the process has evolved to include a pre-application process to ensure prerequisite actions are taken (like the Environmental Impact Statement) and the final, official license application includes all of the required information, correctly formatted. This process mitigates the potential for needing to re-submit applications and re-set the 180-day clock. (7/3)

Vandenberg Wooing Tenants as Launch Activity Slows Down (Source: Space News)
With a decline in launch activity, Vandenberg Air Force Base is looking to attract new business to its launch sites. Launches by the two major companies that use the base, SpaceX and ULA, are now few and far between, and base officials now say they're looking to bring in new customers, like Firefly Aerospace, which will convert a Delta 2 pad for use by their Alpha launch vehicle. Range officials have also been in discussions with small launch providers Relativity Space, Vector and Rocket Lab, although none has yet made any commitments. The base is looking at options to turn SLC-6, the pad currently used by the Delta 4, into a multi-user facility that could support companies like Blue Origin or Northrop Grumman. (7/3)

China Sets New Rues for Commercial Launchers (Source: Space News)
China has released new rules for its growing commercial launch industry. The document, released last month, outlines rules for the research, development, testing of launch vehicles, safety, confidentiality and export control, interaction with launch sites, dealing with propellants, as well as listing supporting laws and regulations for China's space activities. The formulation of guidelines has largely been a top-down process by the Chinese government, with no indication of involvement of commercial space actors. At least 20 companies commercial launch-related companies have been established in China, and a representative of one of them said the new rules were welcome. (7/3)

Australia's Space Agency Under-Resourced (Source: SBS)
A NASA official said Australia's year-old space agency will need more resources to thrive. Badri Younes, a senior official with NASA's space communications program, met with the Australian Space Agency Tuesday and discussed potential collaborations in technology. Younes said after the meeting it was "about time" Australia got its own space agency, but that it needs "many additional resources" from the government to move forward. (7/3)

DoD Considers Crew-Serviced Orbital Outpost (Source: Breaking Defense)
A Defense Department procurement could be the first step towards a military space station. The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) released a solicitation last week for an "Orbital Outpost," which it described as a small module that could be used for various types of research. That solicitation included, as potential future capabilities, the ability to support docking by robotic and crewed spacecraft as well as human rating. The director of the DIU's space directorate said that the purpose of the module is to support autonomous activities, including in-space manufacturing and assembly, but didn't want to rule out "non-traditional or disruptive approaches" by companies, including those proposing commercial space station modules. (7/3)

LightSail Deployed and Communicating (Source: Planetary Society)
A spacecraft intended to demonstrate solar sail technology has contacted the ground after its launch last week. The LightSail 2 spacecraft by the Planetary Society was launched inside another spacecraft, Prox-1, on last week's Falcon Heavy mission. Early Tuesday, Prox-1 deployed LightSail 2, which then made contact with ground controllers. Engineers plan to spend about a week checking out the spacecraft before attempting to deploy its 32-square-meter solar sail. (7/3)

New Roscosmos Design Bureau to Focus on Reusable Launchers (Source: TASS)
Roscosmos has created a new design bureau devoted to reusable launch vehicle technology. The bureau, named after Italian-born Soviet aircraft design Roberto Bartini, will operate as part of the Central Research Institute of Machine-Building. The focus of the bureau will be on a concept for a winged reusable rocket stage called Krylo-SV. (7/3)

Astronomers Analyze Atmosphere of Exoplanet Unlike Any in Our Solar System (Source: New Atlas)
So far we've spotted more than 4,000 planets orbiting stars other than our Sun, but we know very little about their atmospheres. Now, NASA astronomers have managed to probe the atmosphere of GJ 3470 b, a planet unlike any in our solar system. It marks the first time for this kind of world, and could be a step towards identifying potentially habitable planets.

GJ 3470 b is a type of planet commonly referred to as a "Super-Earth", or perhaps a "mini-Neptune." The reason why is pretty clear – with a mass about 12.6 times that of Earth, it tips the scales between Earth and Neptune, which has a mass of over 17 Earths. Although our solar system has missed out on this class of object, they may actually make up the majority of planets in the galaxy.

But until now, astronomers had never been able to take stock of what was in the atmosphere of this kind of world. To investigate, the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes conducted a spectroscopic study of the planet, by analyzing the signatures of light that filtered through the air as it passed in front of its host star, as well as what was lost when the planet went behind the star. (7/3)

China Plans to Deploy Almost 200 AI-Controlled Satellites Into Orbit (Source: Space Daily)
The satellites, which will reportedly include Yaogan-class remote sensing vehicles and named after the Leo constellation, are expected to be equipped with a self-piloting system. Beijing plans to deploy 192 artificial intelligence satellites into orbit to observe the Earth's surface by 2021. The LEO satellites, which will reportedly consist of Yaogan-class remote sensing vehicles, are specifically designed for environmental monitoring, disaster prevention, and traffic management. (7/2)

Poll Reveals Americans Don't Believe US Leads in Space Exploration (Source: Space Daily)
A poll conducted last month shed light on Americans' opinions on space issues such as exploration, monitoring, militarization and the possibility of alien life. The joint poll, conducted by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, asked 1,137 adults a series of questions regarding space. The respondents were told to highlight which issues they considered "very" or "extremely important."

The poll found that 80% of Americans believe that the US is not the world leader in space exploration. Sixty-four percent, on the other hand, said that the US is one of the top forces in the field, while 17% said that the US is not a prominent player in space exploration. Seventeen percent of respondents, on the other hand, said that the US is the leader in space exploration. Most of those surveyed also noted that the federal government, rather than academia or private companies, should be leading space exploration. (7/1)

New Mars 2020 Technology to Probe Jezero Crater for Past Life (Source: Daily Galaxy)
Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, have installed the SuperCam Mast Unit onto the Mars 2020 rover to probe the Jezero Crater landing site with its landforms reaching as far back as 3.6 billion years. “It will revolutionize how we think about Mars and its ability to harbor life,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

The SuperCam’s camera, laser and spectrometers can identify the chemical and mineral makeup of targets as small as a pencil point from a distance of more than 20 feet. SuperCam is a next-generation version of the ChemCam instrument operating on NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover. It has been developed jointly in the U.S., France and Spain. (7/2)

NASA Sold Moon Landing Footage to an Intern for $218. Now, the Tapes Could Sell for Millions (Source: Space.com)
On July 20, 1969, NASA put a man on the moon and captured it all on tape. In 1976, the space agency unknowingly sold those tapes of original footage from the Apollo 11 lunar mission to a lucky intern who held onto them for decades. He never even knew their contents. Now, NASA's blunder will belong to the highest bidder: the three surviving videotapes of the seminal moment in space exploration are up for auction--at a starting bid of $700,000.

According to Sotheby's, the tapes are worth up to $2 million. Bidding begins July 20, on the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. The two-and-a-half hours of footage provide the sharpest image of the history-making mission ever recorded, from Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon's surface to an interplanetary conversation with then-President Richard Nixon to the planting of the American flag. (7/2)

Georgia's Spaceport License Applied-For, Not Approved (Source: SpaceportFacts)
So Camden County’s $8,000 a month PR guy puts out a press release this week telling us that Camden’s January announcement that Spaceport Camden had filed its FAA license application was six months premature. It turns out Camden’s January attempt at an application was so incomplete that the FAA could not process it. That was after taxpayers had already spent more than $4 million on experts, lawyers, and consultants. It only took six more months plus $300,000 to $400,000 more taxpayer cash to complete the application.

Another $750,000 is budgeted for expenses this year. So far, Camden Commissioners have spent over $7 million chasing the elusive spaceport. And for all that, they haven’t created a single, space-related job in Camden County. The "news" about the application is really just another Spaceport Camden PR Stunt. It's an application, not an award! The acceptance of the application by the FAA does nothing more than start the 180-day countdown to an FAA decision on the spaceport license. But ONLY if the FAA and Camden can solve the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) problems that have proven elusive.

The EIS started way back on November 6, 2015 when the FAA published the announcement of the EIS Scoping hearing which kicked-off the public’s awareness of the spaceport. Since then, it’s been one broken promise after another, one missed deadline after another, one spaceport plan after another, and one million dollars after another. They will not divulge the Union Carbide purchase contract or the hazard analysis information we’ve paid for. They refuse to release the FAA license application that they are so proud of having been accepted by the FAA for review. Does a spaceport Business Plan exist? What are they afraid of letting us see? (7/2)

GOP Senators Press Pompeo on Boeing Satellite Sales to Chinese Firms (Source: The Hill)
A pair of Republican senators is pressing the State Department for answers on Boeing's sales of American-made satellites to Chinese companies, raising national security concerns and worries Beijing is using the technology for human rights abuses. "The use of American satellite technology by the Chinese military and police raises serious military, national security, and human rights concerns," Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Joni Ernst (R-IA) wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. (7/2)