January 23, 2020

First Commercial Moon Delivery Assignments to Advance Artemis (Source: NASA)
NASA has finalized the first 16 science experiments and technology demonstrations, ranging from chemistry to communications, to be delivered to the surface of the Moon under the Artemis program. Scheduled to fly next year, the payloads will launch aboard the first two lander deliveries of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. These deliveries will help pave the way for sending the first woman and the next man to the lunar surface by 2024.

In May 2019, the agency awarded two orders for scientific payload delivery to Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines, with both flights targeted to land on the Moon next year. Astrobotic, which will launch its Peregrine lander on a United Launch Alliance rocket, will carry 11 NASA payloads to the lunar surface, while Intuitive Machines, which will launch its Nova-C lander on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, will carry five NASA payloads to the Moon.

One of the payloads is being developed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSolo) will identify low-molecular weight volatiles. It can be installed to either measure the lunar exosphere or the spacecraft outgassing and contamination. Data gathered from MSolo will help determine the composition and concentration of potentially accessible resources. Click here. (1/22)

The Closest Solar System to Earth is Even Weirder Than We Thought (Source: Air & Space)
Since 2016, astronomers have known that the solar system next door to ours—a triple-sun system—has one planet, Proxima b, located in the so-called habitable zone. Now a group of researchers led by Mario Damasso from the National Institute for Astrophysics in Italy claims to have discovered a second planet called Proxima c, a super-Earth with nearly two times the mass of Earth.

The newly detected planet completes one orbit around its host star Proxima Centauri every 5.2 years, and is located well beyond the snow line—the distance from the star where it is cold enough for gaseous compounds such as water, ammonia, carbon dioxide and methane to condense into solid ice grains.

The discovery, which is subject to further confirmation, is remarkable on many grounds. First, it leads us to question our traditional thoughts about planet formation, particularly on how a super-Earth can form so far away from its host star, and how planets can have stable orbits in a triple-star system. Second, detecting a planet just a bit larger than Earth so far away from its host star is an impressive technical achievement, requiring very sensitive measurements. And third, the authors—laudably—did not hype their discovery by raising the possibility of life on Proxima c. (1/22)

Meet NASA's New Mighty Women Astronauts; One Will Likely Become the First Woman on the Moon (Source: A Mighty Girl)
When NASA's newest astronaut class graduated this week, it included five mighty women! The new astronauts have spent two years in intensive training in a wide variety of skills, including spacewalking, robotics, International Space Station (ISS) systems, T-38 jet proficiency, and the Russian language. "As astronauts, they’ll help develop spacecraft [and] support the teams currently in space," NASA wrote in a graduation announcement, "and ultimately join the ranks of only about 500 people who have had the honor of going into space." Click here. (1/12)

China's Long March 8 Rocket Will Feature Breakthrough Recovery Technology (Sources: Weibo, Andrew Jones)
In 2020, China ’s new space flight, the Long March 8 will make its first flight, and there will be a breakthrough in rocket recovery technology. It is China's first attempt at a Falcon 9-style vertical takeoff, vertical landing orbital launcher. It features familiar grid fins & landing legs, but notably the side boosters remain attached. Click here. (1/19) 

Virgin Galactic Soars as Investor Interest Rivals Tesla (Source: Bloomberg)
Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. is scoring its best monthly performance since going public more than two years ago as investor appetite for the space-tourism company heats up. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote in a Wednesday note that the bank is having more conversations about Virgin Galactic than “any other U.S. stock in our coverage with the possible exception of Tesla.” Shares of the New Mexico-based company rose more than 8% in trading before the market open, on track to add to an eighth consecutive record close.

The stock has boomed 52% in the past nine days after struggling to win over investors following a move to the New York Stock Exchange in late October. This year’s 50% advance is even beating Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc., which has jumped more than 30% to its own record. Tesla shares have more than tripled from a June bottom as Wall Street piles on praise for the company. (1/22)

Study Finds Space Station Microbes are No More Harmful Than Those Found in Similar Ground Environments (Source: NASA)
Rest assured, microbes do not, it turns out, become “super bugs” in space. When humans and equipment go to the International Space Station, microbes such as bacteria and fungi come along for the ride. In the extreme environment, only microbes that are most likely to survive in these conditions thrive. A recent ESA (European Space Agency) study, Extremophiles, found that the resulting microbes are not, however, more resistant to antibiotics or extremophilic – able to thrive in environments previously thought uninhabitable – than those found on Earth in similar conditions. (1/22)

Climate Scientist Explains What the Melting Arctic Means for the World (Source: World Economic Forum)
Since the 1970s, we have lost 75% of the volume of Arctic summer sea ice. The Arctic affects the jet stream, causing extreme weather all over the world. The Arctic used to be white but now it's turning blue, and absorbing more heat in a feedback loop. "What's at stake in the Arctic is actually the future of humanity itself."

As the Arctic Ocean and the glaciers have melted we see that dark blue is absorbing more and more heat which is feeding through the rest of the system. And then we can see that the permafrost is thawing. Now, permafrost, of course, releases methane which is a concentrated [greenhouse] gas. And if all the permafrost in the Arctic is released that is like adding in the CO2 emissions of all EU countries.

On top of that, though, we can see that with the Greenland ice sheet, we are accelerating sea level rise. If we get to a 2 degree warmer world we can see from some of the major cities around the world including Tokyo and New York, that they will indeed be flooded. If we stay at the 1.5 Paris aspirational target we will save the Arctic summer sea ice. Two degrees is not safe; 1.5 definitely is. (1/23)

Heading Into the LEO Revolution (Source: Via Satellite)
For the past seven years, talk of LEO satellites has spread through the industry. 2013 bore a fever of constellation activity. Companies such as OneWeb, SpaceX, LeoSat, and Telesat had all envisioned delivering broadband via hundreds, if not thousands, of LEO satellites. What is the real state of play for LEO, and what do the analysts say? According to Northern Sky Research (NSR), two to three of the megaconstellations currently planned are expected to be successfully launched, even if partially, says Shagun Sachdeva. Over the next five years, more than 4,150 LEO birds are expected to be launched overall. NSR forecasts around 78 Tbps of usable capacity to be brought to the market by the major LEO constellations.

In the case of LeoSat, the company falls into the first exit stage, which is unfortunate as it managed to secure around $2 billion in soft commitments from customers, Sachdeva says. “This emphasizes the fact that strong financial backing is critical for success for LEO constellations. SpaceX and OneWeb both have strong financial support, which will help them get their systems into orbit, even if partially,” she says. Similarly, Amazon’s project Kuiper is expected to be financially strong, whether from outside funds or from being self-funded. However, questions remain as to whether these companies will successfully bypass the second and third exit stages. (1/23)

Astroscale Awarded Up To $4.5 Million From Tokyo Government To Commercialize Orbital Debris Removal (Source: Astroscale)
Astroscale has been awarded a grant of up to $4.5 million from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s “Innovation Tokyo Project” to build a roadmap for commercializing active debris removal (ADR) services. The project, which was launched last year, aims to subsidize up to half of the expenses required for the commercialization and development of innovative services and products for venture companies and small and medium-sized enterprises.

Astroscale received the maximum amount covering half of its US $9 million application and will use the funds over three years to commercialize its ADR services and develop global sales channels with satellite operators, national agencies and the insurance market. The grant will also be used to continue pursuing joint research and development contracts, conduct safety and risk assessments of client satellites, and grow the finance and human resources departments. (1/23)

A California Space Station for Mars Settlement Research (Source: Sputnik)
Inspired by the desire to improve life on Earth and to settle on Mars in future, the team at Interstellar Lab has combined architecture, engineering, product design and science to create closed-loop villages with regenerative life support technologies. Two years after the launch of the project, Interstellar Lab has unveiled its Experimental BIOregenerative Station (EBIOS) which is designed as a scientific and research center for astronauts training. At the same time, according to the Interstellar Lab crew, the village will be open half of the year to families, adventurers and students. The station, which is located in the Mojave Desert in California, is to open its doors in 2021. It incorporates a variety of vital technologies, including water treatment, waste management and food production. (1/23)

NASA's Curiosity Rover Suffers Glitch on Mars, Freezes Up (Source: C/Net)
Can a Mars rover have an existential crisis? NASA's Curiosity rover is wondering just exactly what its place is on Mars after experiencing a technical glitch. "Partway through its last set of activities, Curiosity lost its orientation," wrote Curiosity team member Dawn Sumner, a planetary geologist at University of California, Davis, in a mission update this week. The rover stores  in memory its body attitude and joint orientation. This includes details of the local landscape, the location of its robotic arm and the directions its instruments are pointing. It's all the data that helps the rover know exactly where it is on Mars and how to move about safely. "Curiosity stopped moving, freezing in place until its knowledge of its orientation can be recovered," wrote Sumner. (1/22)

Burst of Gravitational Waves Hit Our Planet on Jan. 14 (Source: Space.com)
A mysterious cosmic event might have ever-so-slightly stretched and squeezed our planet last week. On Jan. 14, astronomers detected a split-second burst of gravitational waves, distortions in space-time … but researchers don't know where this burst came from. The gravitational wave signal, picked up by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the Virgo interferometer, lasted only 14 milliseconds, and astronomers haven't yet been able to pinpoint the burst's cause or determine whether it was just a blip in the detectors. (1/22)

Firefly Rocket Test Suffers Anomaly at Texas Site (Source: Space News)
Firefly Aerospace reported a "test anomaly" during an attempted static-fire test Wednesday of the small launch vehicle it is developing. Law enforcement and fire units responded to reports Wednesday evening of a "possible explosion" at the company's test site, north of Austin, Texas, prompting road closures and evacuations of nearby residents. Firefly later said the anomaly caused "a small fire" but no explosion, and that both the rocket and the test stand are intact. The company was preparing to perform its first static-fire test of the first stage of the Alpha rocket with all four of its engines installed. The company earlier said it planned a series of qualification tests of the stage, one of the last major tests before the first flight of the rocket. (1/22)

DirecTV Satellite May Explode in Orbit (Source: Space News)
DirecTV fears one of its satellites could explode because of a battery malfunction. The company informed the FCC its Spaceway-1 satellite suffered an unexplained anomaly in December that caused "significant and irreversible thermal damage" to its batteries. The company says the satellite is relying solely on power directly generated by its solar panels, but will start experiencing eclipses in its geostationary orbit in late February that will require it to use its batteries, risking a "catastrophic battery failure." The company says it's working to decommission the satellite by Feb. 25, when those eclipses will start, but will not be able to deplete all of the spacecraft's onboard fuel by then. Spaceway-1 is a Boeing 702 satellite launched in 2005 that was serving as a backup to DirecTV's other satellites. (1/22)

Boeing Exits DARPA Reusable Spaceplane Project (Source: Space News)
Boeing has dropped out of a DARPA program to develop an experimental reusable spaceplane. DARPA said Wednesday that Boeing informed the agency it was immediately discontinuing work on the Experimental Spaceplane Program, which was to develop a reusable suborbital spaceplane designed to fly 10 times in 10 days. Boeing won a 2017 DARPA competition, in the form of an other transaction authority award that required Boeing to also contribute its own funding, to develop and test what Boeing called Phantom Express. DARPA envisioned using the vehicle, equipped with an expendable upper stage, to place smallsats into orbit affordably and responsively. (1/22)

SpaceX Seeks March 2 Hearing in Lawsuit Against US Air Force (Source: Space News)
SpaceX is seeking a hearing in federal court on its lawsuit against the U.S. Air Force about the Launch Service Agreement (LSA) program. SpaceX filed a request with the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California earlier this month, seeking a March 2 hearing on its suit. SpaceX originally filed suit in the Court of Federal Claims over the program, which awarded agreements to Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman and United Launch Alliance to support launch vehicle development. That court ruled it lacked jurisdiction in the case, but allowed SpaceX to transfer its suit to the district court. SpaceX, which proposed using its Starship next-generation vehicle for some launches, argues that Starship is no riskier than the other vehicles being developed by the LSA winners. (1/22)

Russian Scientists Propose Crewed Base on Martian Moon to Control Robots Remotely on Red Planet (Source: Sputnik)
Academics believe a Martian moon base would be considerably cheaper to build than a base on the planet itself, while providing for the real-time control of robots stationed on Mars' surface. A group of Russian, Italian and American scientists have proposed the creation of a long-term habitable base on the Martian moon of Phobos, and are expected to present their ideas at the upcoming Korolev Academic Space Conference 2020 in Moscow next week. (1/23)

Descartes Offers Cloud-Based Geospatial Services (Source: Space News)
Descartes Labs unveiled Wednesday a cloud-based platform for commercial customers that pairs geospatial data sets with modeling tools and applications. The company said its Descartes Labs Platform offers analysts the tools necessary to draw relevant information from geospatial data sets without the need for hiring experts in areas from remote sensing to machine learning. The company says what sets its service apart from similar offerings by other companies is the diversity of geospatial data sets included and the platform's orientation toward commercial customers. (1/22)

Trump: Musk "Does Good at Rockets" (Source: CNBC)
President Trump had this to say about Elon Musk during an interview: "I spoke to him very recently, and he's also doing the rockets. He likes rockets. And he does good at rockets, too, by the way. I never saw where the engines come down with no wings, no anything, and they're landing. I said, 'I've never seen that before.'" (1/22)

Artemis Requires Schedule Discipline, Good Fortune, to Land Humans on Moon in 2024 (Source: The Verge)
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said "a lot of things have to go right" for the agency to meet its 2024 deadline of landing people on the moon. In an interview after Sunday's SpaceX in-flight abort test, Bridenstine said funding will be a key factor in determining if the Artemis program can stay on track, along with upcoming tests of the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft. The agency is looking at options for the human lunar lander program, which received $600 million for fiscal year 2020 versus the $1 billion NASA requested. Bridenstine also confirmed the agency's 2021 budget request, to be released next month, will contain the five-year funding profiles that will provide an estimate of how much the agency thinks the Artemis program will cost. (1/22)

NOAA Relies Increasingly on Private Sector Capabilities (Source: Space News)
The acting administrator of NOAA says the private sector is increasingly a critical partner in the agency's activities, including space. In a speech this week, Neil Jacobs said NOAA was trying to figure out new approaches to public-private partnerships that can offer companies a "win-win business model," but did not go into specifics, including how it might apply to satellite weather observations. NOAA has experimented with purchasing commercial satellite data through a pilot program, but is still working out how to integrate that data into its weather forecasting operations. Jacobs, who has been acting administrator for nearly a year, was nominated by the White House last month to take the job on a permanent basis. (1/22)

New Baikonur Launch Pad Won't Support Crewed Launches (Source: TASS)
A new Russian launch facility will no longer have the ability to support crewed launches. The government of Kazakhstan accepted a Russian proposal that the jointly developed Baiterek complex at the Baikonur Cosmodrome support only satellite launches, and not crewed spacecraft. Doing so, Kazakh officials said, would cut its share of the cost to build it by about 25%. The facility will be used to host launches of the Soyuz-5 under development. (1/23)

India to Fly Humanoid Robot in Crew Spacecraft (Source: Hindustan Times)
India will fly a humanoid robot on a test flight of the crewed spacecraft it is building. The Indian space agency ISRO said the robot, named Vyommitra or "friend of the sky," will be inside the Gaganyaan spacecraft that will make uncrewed test flights late this year and in the middle of next year, prior to the first crewed flight of the spacecraft no earlier than late next year. The robot is designed to mimic actions like manipulating buttons and switches inside the spacecraft and will also measure the conditions future crews will experience in it. (1/23)

Northrop Grumman Honors Lawrence With Next Cygnus (Source: CollectSpace)
Northrop Grumman has named its next Cygnus cargo spacecraft after the first African American astronaut. The company said this week the spacecraft, scheduled launch to the station next month, will be named the "S.S. Robert H. Lawrence" after the late military astronaut. Lawrence was part of the U.S. Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory astronaut corps in the 1960s, but was killed in an aircraft crash in 1967. While the program was canceled before flying any missions, some members of that astronaut corps transferred to NASA and later flew shuttle missions. (1/22)

Oklahoma Hopes for 10,000 New Aerospace Jobs (Source: KOCO)
The Oklahoma Aerospace Commerce Economic Services is looking to boost the industry by adding more than 10,000 employees to the state in the next 10 years. Right now it's expected that there are more than 1,500 job openings in Oklahoma City. The ACES is hosting career fairs in 2020 with the first one taking place in Tulsa last week. Coming up on January 22nd they will be hosting another career fair in OKC. (1/20)

Russia to Supply US With Six RD-180 Rocket Engines This Year (Source: Sputnik)
Russian rocket engine manufacturer NPO Energomash plans to ship six RD-180 rocket engines to the United States this year, government procurement website data shows. The RD-180 engines will be used to power the first stage of the Atlas V launch vehicles. In December, Energomash said that it shipped a total of six RD-180 rocket engines to the United States in 2019. In October, Roscosmos subsidiary Energomash was preparing to deliver three more RD-180 engines for use with Atlas V launch vehicles. Previously, Energomash already shipped three RD-180 rocket engines to the US in June as part of a separate contract. (1/23)

Indian Astronauts to Begin Training in Russia for Country's First Crewed Space Mission (Source: Sputnik)
India's space agency the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) is gearing up for its week-long space mission worth $1.31 billion. Four astronauts have been shortlisted from the Indian Air Force after a series of tests conducted in India and Russia. ISRO Chief K. Sivan said on Wednesday that four shortlisted astronauts would be sent to Russia for an 11-month training program by the end of January, in preparation for India's first crewed space mission - 'Gaganyaan' - scheduled for January 2022. (1/23)

Cocoa Beach Library Hosts Solar Orbiter Mission Talk (Source: City of Cocoa Beach)
Join us on Tuesday, January 28 at 6:00pm in the Community Room at the Cocoa Beach Public Library to listen to Cesar Garcia/ ESA Solar Orbiter Project Manager talk about the upcoming mission, Solar Orbiter, a joint ESA/ NASA collaboration blazing towards the sun. Click here. (1/23)

Brian Stofiel Stumbled Onto the Right Stuff For Orbit: a Plastic Rocket (Source: Riverfront Times)
In reality, there are some additional steps: Collect a few billion dollars, build a rocket taller than a ten-story building, gain access to vast quantities of fuel and, preferably, buy a deserted plot of land that you wouldn't mind obliterating on launch day. Or, you could do it like Brian Stofiel — just print a rocket in your basement and drag it to the edge of space on a weather balloon. Then, and only then, would you fire the rocket, which would have to be light enough to lift with a bit of helium but also sturdy enough to survive a prolonged burn through the upper atmosphere.

You probably wouldn't build that rocket out of plastic. But Stofiel, a St. Louis-based Air Force veteran without a bachelor's degree, is doing just that, utilizing a heat-resistent, chemically treated plastic that he himself invented. Stofiel's breakthrough has caught the attention of rocket scientists who know intimately what it takes to engineer an escape from Earth. His creation, extruded inch by inch by an overworked 3D printer nicknamed "the Beast," is at the heart of what he calls the "Boreas" launch system.

Beneath the rocket, tethered by yet another umbilical rope, would be a space plane with folded, swept-back wings. The size of a Mini Cooper, it looks like the fusion of a fighter jet and an origami crane. Called Artemis, it will hold Boreas' brain. At nineteen miles up, the guidance computer would snap to work, writing a firing solution and sending the cue to Hermes to punch its ticket to space. When Hermes' engine ignites, its plastic motor would eject a pillar of flames at nearly 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. With so little atmosphere remaining, Hermes would need only around two minutes of burn before it enters low-earth orbit.  (03/2019)

Goldilocks and SpaceX Smallsat Rideshare (Source: LinkedIn)
The previous decade saw much in the way of exciting changes and technological developments, accelerated by an environment of high competition. The industry experienced a decline in launch prices, which in turn lowered the barrier of entry for small satellite operators. SpaceX’s Smallsat Rideshare Program announced in late 2019 seems to have set the bar for lowest market prices in its class, but does it represent Goldilocks pricing – not too high, not too low, just right – to become the ideal option for the industry in the decade to come?

NSR’s Small Satellite Markets, 6th Edition forecasts over 8,100 small satellites to be launched in the period between 2018 and 2028. This number represents demand from both constellation and non-constellation satellites in mass ranges below 500 kg to be launched via a growing number of launch programs and vehicles currently and soon-to-be available on the market.

The latter part of the last decade saw a huge surge in interest and excitement in dedicated small satellite launcher development around the world that looked to address demand in this small satellite mass category. These developments are the consequence of high variance in satellite mission needs, and market demand is (and will continue to be) distributed among existing and emerging launch actors. However, most of the new small launchers are still in development and arguably will not survive to see their first orbital launches, due to the capital-intensive and exceptionally long development cycles. (1/21)

UCF Professors’ Space Podcast Leads to Radio Show Invitation (Source: UCF Today)
About 5,000 people a month around the world tune into a space-related podcast launched by three University of Central Florida professors. What started out as conversations while walking to get coffee on campus to perk up the afternoon, turned into the Walkabout the Galaxy  podcast in 2014, which this month led to the professors becoming regular guests on WMFE’s recently launched Are We There Yet? radio show. Click here. (1/22)