May 22, 2020

Made In India Moon Analog Soil Gets Patent for ISRO (Source: IANS)
The Indian space agency has got the patent for its method of manufacturing highland lunar soil simulant or simply lunar/moon soil. As a part of its Moon landing mission Chandrayaan-2, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) had to prepare an artificial moon surface so that the Vikram lander and Pragyaan rover could be tested. On May 18, the Indian Patent Office granted patent to ISRO for an invention as to the method of manufacturing highland lunar soil simulant. The patent is valid for 20 years from the date of filing the application, i.e., May 15, 2014. (5/22)

How Cosmic Rays May Have Shaped Life (Source: Space Daily)
Before there were animals, bacteria or even DNA on Earth, self-replicating molecules were slowly evolving their way from simple matter to life beneath a constant shower of energetic particles from space. In a new paper, a Stanford professor and a former post-doctoral scholar speculate that this interaction between ancient proto-organisms and cosmic rays may be responsible for a crucial structural preference, called chirality, in biological molecules. If their idea is correct, it suggests that all life throughout the universe could share the same chiral preference.

Chirality, also known as handedness, is the existence of mirror-image versions of molecules. Like the left and right hand, two chiral forms of a single molecule reflect each other in shape but don't line up if stacked. In every major biomolecule - amino acids, DNA, RNA - life only uses one form of molecular handedness. If the mirror version of a molecule is substituted for the regular version within a biological system, the system will often malfunction or stop functioning entirely. In the case of DNA, a single wrong handed sugar would disrupt the stable helical structure of the molecule. (5/21)

NASA Seeking US Citizens for Social Isolation Study for Moon and Mars Missions (Source: Space Daily)
Astronauts experience various aspects of social isolation and confinement during their missions, NASA researchers are working to develop methods and technologies to mitigate and counteract potential related problems on future spaceflight missions. As many around the world are staying at home in response to the global coronavirus pandemic, NASA is preparing for its next spaceflight simulation study and is seeking healthy participants to live together with a small crew in isolation for eight months in Moscow, Russia.

The analog mission is the next in a series that will help NASA learn about the physiological and psychological effects of isolation and confinement on humans in preparation for Artemis exploration missions to the Moon and future long-duration missions to Mars. NASA is looking for highly motivated U.S. citizens who are 30-55 years old and are proficient in both Russian and English languages. Requirements are: M.S., PhD., M.D. or completion of military officer training. Participants with a Bachelor's degree and other certain qualifications (e.g., relevant additional education, military, or professional experience) may be acceptable candidates as well. (5/21)

Norwegian Spaceport Gets Government Backing (Source: High North News)
A proposed spaceport in Norway has the backing of a parliamentary committee. The Committee on Business and Industry of Norway's Parliament unanimously endorsed plans to establish a commercial spaceport at the Andøya Space Center, which currently hosts sounding rocket launches. The proposed spaceport still requires funding, but backers of the site hope will that be included in a new budget in June. (5/22)

Japan Delivers Space Studio to ISS (Source: Mainichi)
A Japanese cargo spacecraft en route to the International Space Station includes equipment for a "space studio." The cargo on the HTV-9 spacecraft, launched Wednesday, includes the "Space Frontier Studio Kibo," which will be installed in the Japanese Kibo module in the station. The studio, a partnership between the Japanese space agency JAXA and Japanese digital entertainment firm Bascule, includes a screen that will be installed next to a window in the module. The screen will show pictures and messages from people on Earth, and an astronaut will capture video of both the display and the view out the window to transmit back to Earth. (5/22)

The Bold Plan to See Continents and Oceans on Another Earth (Source: Space Daily)
What if we could take a picture of an Earth-like planet around another star that was sharp enough to see continents, oceans, and clouds? Right now, it's impossible. From our vantage point, exoplanets - planets orbiting other stars - look like fireflies next to spotlights. In the few images we've managed to take of them, the exoplanets are mere dots. Even as the next generation of space telescopes comes online, this won't change - you'd need a 90-kilometer-wide telescope to see surface features on a planet 100 light-years away.

A group of researchers has an audacious plan to overcome these difficulties. It involves using solar sail spacecraft - possibly an entire fleet of them - to fly faster and farther away from Earth than any previous space probe, turn around, and use our distant Sun's gravity as a giant magnifying glass. If it works, we'll capture an image of an exoplanet so sharp that we can see features just 10 kilometers across. The project, called the Solar Gravity Lens, or SGL, sounds like something straight out of science fiction. NASA and a collection of universities, aerospace companies and other organizations are involved, as well as Planetary Society co-founder Lou Friedman, the original solar sailing guru. (5/22)

Study Explores Space's Impact on Our Daily Lives (Source: Space Daily)
Satellites surveying the environmental and economic impacts of COVID-19, rocket launches, and plans for the next lunar landing have been featured in the news recently. Despite this, it is still easy to miss all of the ways in which satellites contribute to daily life. A new study released by The Aerospace Corporation's Center for Space Policy and Strategy (CSPS) discusses the value and use of space-based capabilities and our reliance on space, sector by sector.

"More than 2,200 active satellites support earthly infrastructure, economies, and national security systems, enabling hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of benefits over their lifetimes," said Jamie Morin, Executive Director of CSPS. "The breakthrough technologies and satellite constellations currently in development will deepen our relationship with space even further, bringing more space-enabled capabilities and opportunities to their everyday lives."

The CSPS study focuses on the fundamental uses of space-based assets and the world's continuous reliance on them. The study also provides examples of how its usage will widen as satellite operators innovate and offer new products and services. Click here. (5/22)

Report on Space Acquisition Reform Now Before Congress (Source: Space News)
The Pentagon has delivered a highly anticipated report on how it seeks to reform space acquisition. The report, sent to Congress this week, outlines an "Alternative Acquisition System" to address concerns that many of the Pentagon's rules for procurement programs create unnecessary burdens and squelch innovation. The report outlines a series of proposed changes, some of which require congressional action to implement. However, the final version of the report lacked a proposal found in an earlier draft that called for a Senior Procurement Executive for the Space Force under the Department of the Air Force. The final report said that such a position "creates the potential for increased administrative burden" that would slow down, not streamline, procurement. (5/22)

SpaceX NASA Crew Launch On Track Despite Loverro Departure (Source: Space News)
Preparations for next week's commercial crew launch continue despite a shake-up in agency leadership. NASA and SpaceX started a flight readiness review Thursday for the Demo-2 mission, one of the final reviews before the launch scheduled for May 27. The review, expected to wrap up today, was to be led by Doug Loverro, the associate administrator for human exploration and operations, but he resigned earlier this week for reasons unrelated to the commercial crew program. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), chair of the House Science Committee, said she was "shocked" by Loverro's departure "and I trust that NASA Administrator Bridenstine will ensure that the right decision is made as to whether or not to delay the launch attempt." (5/22)

DoD's SDA RFI for Constellation Launchers (Source: Space News)
The Pentagon's Space Development Agency (SDA) is looking for information from launch providers that could support its constellation plans. The SDA released a request for information this week, asking launch providers what services they can offer for its communications and missile tracking constellations. The first SDA manifest, called Tranche 0, will consist of up to 30 large spacecraft of four different types that will be deployed 1,000 kilometers above Earth in a polar inclination. A contract award for the Tranche 0 mission is expected in early 2021.

Italy's D-Orbit to Fly Cubesat Deployer on Vega (Source: Space News)
Italian space company D-Orbit will launch its first cubesat deployer in June on a Vega. The company's first ION deployer will release into a single orbit 12 Doves for Earth observation company Planet on the Vega's return-to-flight mission. D-Orbit is working on an upgraded version of ION capable of in-space maneuvers, and the deployer ultimately will have the ability to host payloads, relay communications to the ground and retrieve satellites to deorbit them. (5/22)

Revised Remote Sensing Regs Welcomed by Industry (Source: Space News)
Satellite imaging companies have welcomed new commercial remote sensing regulations. Several companies said they believed the revised regulations, released by the Commerce Department this week, will make it easier for them to license new satellite systems. The revised regulations do away with many of the restrictions of earlier regulations, placing systems in tiers based on how their capabilities compare with other systems not licensed by the U.S. government. Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX), ranking member of the House space subcommittee, agreed the new regulations were a step forward, but said there still needs to be an update of the underlying law, enacted in 1992, for commercial remote sensing regulations. (5/22)

Russia Launches Milsat on Soyuz (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
Russia launched a military satellite on a Soyuz rocket early Friday. A Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 3:31 a.m. Eastern carrying an unidentified military satellite. That payload is believed to be a missile warning satellite that will operate in a highly elliptical Molniya orbit. (5/22)

Indian Astronauts Resume Training in Russia (Source: The Hindu)
Indian astronaut candidates have resumed training in Russia. Four Indian Air Force pilots went to the Russian cosmonaut training center in Star City, Russia, early this year as India prepares to carry out its first crewed spaceflight by 2022. That training was interrupted in late March by the coronavirus pandemic, and the pilots were locked down at the training center. Russian space company Glavkosmos said that the training resumed last week. (5/22)

Why India Should Exit the Moon Agreement (Source: The Hindu)
On the face of it, the Moon Agreement is benign—it seeks to “promote rule of law in this human endeavor”, and says that human activities on the Moon should be peaceful, never hostile and in accordance with international law. This means, no military bases on the Moon, no “disruption of the existing balance of its (Moon’s) environment”, share information etc. But deeper hidden meanings in the provisions have been found to be problematic. As such, only 18 countries signed the agreement, including India and France, but not including the US, Russia and China.

Now, in the recent order signed by Donald Trump, there is a curious sentence, “Uncertainty regarding the right to recover and use space resources, including the extension of the right to commercial recovery and use of lunar resources, however, has discouraged some commercial entities from participating in this enterprise.” The order further notes that “questions as to whether the 1979 Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (the “Moon Agreement”) establishes the legal framework for nation states concerning the recovery and use of space resources have deepened this uncertainty.”

India must formally exit this agreement, says Dr Chaitanya Giri, a Gateway House Fellow of Space and Ocean Studies Programme, who was earlier affiliated to the Earth-Life Science Institute at Tokyo Institute of Technology and the Geophysical Laboratory at Carnegie Institution for Science. The problem with the Moon Agreement, Dr Giri told BusinessLine, lies in the Article 4.1, which says that “the exploration and use of the Moon shall be the province of all mankind and shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic and scientific development.” (5/20)

The Numbers Don’t Lie—NASA’s Move to Commercial Space Has Saved Money (Source: Ars Technica)
This moment has been a long time coming. Nearly 15 years ago, NASA placed a small bet on the nascent commercial space industry when it sought to diversify its fleet for delivering cargo to the International Space Station. NASA had the space shuttle to ferry supplies, of course, but that aging vehicle was not going to fly forever. So the agency’s administrator at the time, Mike Griffin, committed $500 million in seed money for the development of new, privately built spacecraft.

Griffin may not have realized what he had unleashed. The first small “Commercial Orbital Transportation Services” contracts awarded to SpaceX and Orbital Sciences have since expanded into other areas of spaceflight while multiplying in value from hundreds of millions of dollars into billions of dollars. NASA now looks to private companies for not just cargo delivery to orbit but, with Crew Dragon, people. NASA also recently sought commercial services for sending supplies to the Moon and even landing humans there. What began as a pebble tossed into a pond has become a wave.

Critics of this commercial approach certainly remain—it has disrupted the business models of traditional aerospace powers like Boeing and Lockheed Martin, which have long profited from lucrative cost-plus contracts. Some at NASA, too, still don’t trust commercial providers, and they’re especially wary of Elon Musk, the brash founder and chief engineer of SpaceX. Yet it is Musk's firm that has delivered NASA a human-rated spacecraft in its hour of need, with Russia continuing to raise prices for rides into space nearly a decade after the space shuttle’s retirement. And if you speak with the NASA engineers who have worked alongside SpaceX engineers for more than a decade, they appreciate what the company has accomplished. (5/20)

On Florida’s Space Coast, a Return to the ‘Good Days’ of Launching Astronauts is Near with SpaceX Flight (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Kyle Mallory worked on the shuttle since 1989 before he was laid off the day after Atlantis landed, along with thousands of others. Things were dark then — unemployment in Brevard County had bottomed out at 11.8% the year before. Talent was draining out of the Space Coast, some of it never to return. Some people thought NASA itself had completely shut down. What is space exploration without astronauts to launch?

This launch will be an injection of life into a region that has built so much of its identity around being area code 3-2-1. Launching satellites regularly is exciting. Watching SpaceX grow into a force in spaceflight, with its now routine booster landings, has been thrilling. But nothing captures imaginations, hearts and eyeballs quite like a crewed mission. “This is a monumental launch, there is a lot riding on it,” Mallory said. “It’s good for our country. I feel red, white and blue all over." (5/21)

Crew Launch Debut Brings Crowd Worries (Source: Space.com)
NASA's first crewed launch from U.S. soil since 2011 was supposed to be a triumphant return for Florida's Space Coast. As for so many milestones this year, however, a global pandemic has changed that calculus. For nine years, ever since the space shuttles retired, NASA has relied on Russian Soyuz capsules launched from Kazakhstan to send its astronauts into orbit. During that time, Florida's Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center launchpads have stuck to robotic and cargo missions, and tourism to the area has suffered from the absence of astronaut flights. All that will change next week, with SpaceX's Demo-2 crewed test flight scheduled to blast off May 27 on a Crew Dragon spacecraft.

There's just one problem: Travel, celebrations, social gatherings and even just leaving the house unnecessarily have been out of fashion for months, sometimes banned by law, as public health officials scramble to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus and the respiratory disease it causes, COVID-19. "[The launch] was going to be a circus, both inside the fence and outside the fence, in the local community," Dale Ketcham, vice president for government and external relations at Space Florida, an economic development organization for the industry, told Space.com. "Now, it will still be a big event simply because it can't be constrained, but obviously it's going to be substantially subdued."

NASA has made clear it would rather space fans stay home. For weeks, agency head Jim Bridenstine has called for people to watch the launch from home, via NASA broadcast, rather than attending in person. And whereas its local visitor center would usually welcome spectators for a launch, that facility is currently closed. (5/21)

NASA Will Likely Add a Rendezvous Test to the First Piloted Orion Space Mission (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
Astronauts will likely perform a previously-unplanned demonstration of the Orion spacecraft’s deep space rendezvous capabilities in a high-altitude orbit around Earth on the crew capsule’s first piloted test flight, now scheduled for 2023. The new objective on the first piloted Orion test flight would allow astronauts and engineers to evaluate the capsule’s ability to approach another spacecraft, demonstrating the rendezvous system before it’s needed on future missions to dock with a lunar lander and the planned Gateway mini-space station in orbit around the moon.

The astronauts on the first crewed Orion flight, named Artemis 2, will oversee the ship’s ability to operate in close proximity to another object in space, likely either the upper stage of the Orion’s rocket or a satellite carried as a piggyback payload, NASA officials said last week. Adding the new test to the Artemis 2 mission will help engineers “understand the handling characteristics of Orion, (and) make sure that we have the simulators correct on Earth so we can get that actual real-time feedback in orbit,” Loverro said. (5/18)

Crew Mission Duration Hinges on Dragon Solar Array (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
The Dragon astronauts, both veterans of two space shuttle missions, could live and work on the space station for one to four months, according to NASA officials. The duration will primarily hinge on how well the Crew Dragon’s solar panels hold up in the harsh environment of space. “The minimum mission duration is really about a month, and the maximum is 119 days,” said Steve Stich, deputy manager of NASA’s commercial crew program. (5/13)

Artemis Intrigue With Loverro Resignation (Source: Quartz)
Doug Loverro, a former Air Force officer and long time Defense official with a focus on space, came into the job just six months ago, replacing a predecessor who had been fired for failing to speed up NASA’s return to the moon. Loverro appeared to be settling into the job in recent weeks, and his decision to step down will damage morale at the space agency. What went wrong? The worst-case scenario would be some kind of problem with the upcoming crewed flight of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, but it appears that no new issues arose on that front.

Instead, the controversy is focused on how Loverro attempted to push forward the Artemis program’s planned lunar landing in 2024. In a letter to agency employees, Loverro spoke vaguely about taking a risk to achieve a mission, writing “now it is clear that I made a mistake in that choice for which I alone must bear the consequences.” Eric Berger reports that said mistake involved a violation of government procurement rules. That could be straight-up corruption, like receiving a job or compensation from a favored contractor, but the likelier violation involves sharing information about competing bids.

Loverro has supported a strategy that would use a lander to arrive in one piece to save time, but most of the companies offering designs required multiple rocket launches before assembling their large vehicles in space. The theory, then, is that Loverro might have crossed a line in urging one or more competitors to adopt his preferred strategy, sharing confidential information about other bidders in the process. Boeing’s proposal is the only one known to use a single-launch strategy, but it did not make the final round of NASA’s selection process. (5/21)

Space Force Chief Wants Unified Space Acquisition (Source: Space News)
The head of the Space Force wants a unified organization for space acquisition. Gen. John Raymond, chief of space operations, told reporters Wednesday that one of his top priorities is to "drive unity of effort across the department" regarding procurement of space systems. Raymond said one of the Space Force's field commands will be for acquisitions, likely an umbrella organization encompassing several existing organizations and the Space Development Agency, which currently is outside of the Space Force. (5/21)

Virgin Orbit Downplays Expectations for First Launch (Source: Space News)
Virgin Orbit will launch its LauncherOne rocket Sunday, using the company's modified Boeing 747 flying off the coast of Southern California. A backup launch date is Monday. The company is setting modest expectations for the flight, which is carrying on a test payload, noting that only about 50% of first launches of new rockets are successful. Virgin Orbit has tested all aspects of the LauncherOne system, including a captive carry flight last month, but this launch will be the first time they're attempted a midair ignition of the rocket. (5/21)

DoD Pressures Congress to Fix Ligado 5G Issue (Source: Space News)
The Defense Department is pressuring Congress to act on the FCC's approval of a 5G network that could interfere with GPS. Mike Griffin, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, said Wednesday that if the FCC's license to Ligado is upheld, the GPS L1 signal will be compromised because of interference. Griffin was among the Defense Department officials who testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this month about their concerns. Gen. John Raymond, chief of space operations of the U.S. Space Force, said officials will brief the House Armed Services Committee on the issue Thursday. (5/21)

NASA Renames WFIRST to Honor Nancy Grace Roman (Source: Space News)
NASA has renamed a space telescope under development after a pioneering woman astronomer. NASA said Wednesday that the that the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) will now be known as the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Roman joined NASA in 1959 as its first chief of astronomy, overseeing work on an initial series of space-based telescopes and helping start development of what would become the Hubble Space Telescope, earning her the nickname "Mother of Hubble." The Roman Space Telescope is set to launch in the mid-2020s, although NASA requested no funding for the mission in its fiscal year 2021 budget request. NASA also zeroed out the telescope in its fiscal year 2019 and 2020 requests, but Congress funded the mission both years. (5/21)
 
NOAA Nominee Gets Senate Committee Nod (Source: Space News)
The Senate Commerce Committee advanced the nomination of Neil Jacobs to be head of NOAA. The committee approved Jacobs' nomination Wednesday on a voice vote, although three Democratic members formally recorded no votes. Jacobs has been acting NOAA administrator since early last year, but was nominated to take the job permanently last December after Barry Myers, the White House's original nominee, withdrew. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the subcommittee, said that while she would vote to advance the nomination, she wanted the full Senate to hold off on a confirmation vote until the Commerce Department's inspector general completes an investigation into NOAA activities during Hurricane Dorian last year. (5/21)

Momentus Signs New Customers (Source: Space News)
In-space propulsion company Momentus Space has signed up three new customers. In one week, Momentus announced contracts with video streaming company Sen, satellite manufacturer Alba Orbital and Polish nanosatellite startup SatRevolution. All three will use Momentus' Vigoride in-space transportation service to deliver their satellites to their final orbits after being launched as rideshare payloads. Momentus is also developing a Vigoride variant, called Ardoride, capable of transferring payloads from geostationary transfer orbit to GEO or beyond Earth. (5/21)

US Links With Peru on Space Situational Awareness (Source: Space News)
The United States has signed a new space situational awareness agreement with Peru. The agreement, signed last week between U.S. Space Command and the Peruvian space agency CONIDA, will give Peru access to high-quality satellite tracking data. Peru operates the PerúSat-1 Earth observation satellite and plans to deploy a follow-on satellite. A total of 25 nations have now joined the U.S. space situational awareness data-sharing and safety of spaceflight network. (5/21)

NASA Delays OSIRIS-REx Sample Collection (Source: Space.com)
A NASA mission is delaying plans to capture a sample from the surface of an asteroid. The OSIRIS-REx mission was scheduled to perform a "touch-and-go" maneuver on the surface of the asteroid Bennu in August, collecting samples for later return to Earth. NASA said Wednesday that it is pushing back that sample collection attempt until October, saying the coronavirus pandemic had slowed its planning efforts. That delay will not affect the spacecraft's schedule for leaving the asteroid next year, returning the samples to Earth in 2023. (5/21)

SpaceX Ready to Capture the Flag (Source: CollectSpace)
The Demo-2 mission will return to Earth a flag left on the station by the last shuttle mission. Astronauts, though, needed to find the flag first. The flag, which also flew on the first shuttle mission, was left on the ISS by the final shuttle crew with the intent that the first commercial crew mission would return it. However, the flag was lost for a time on the station when it was placed in a cargo bag. In 2018, NASA astronaut Scott Tingle, then on the station, was asked to track down the flag, which he was able to do only after weeks of searching and calls with astronauts who had previously been on the station. The flag, he said, was creased from being folded up in the cargo bag. "To me, it just adds character, because that's what human spaceflight is all about," Tingle said. (5/21)